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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26285320">Commonwealth Mission Log</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrusJ/pseuds/CyrusJ'>CyrusJ</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fallout 4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Diary/Journal, Fantastic Racism, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 07:22:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>26,569</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26285320</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyrusJ/pseuds/CyrusJ</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The journal of an ex-Army Ranger who wakes up after 200 years of cold sleep.</p><p>This is a playthrough fic of Fallout 4 using the mod Horizon v1.7.6. This is an abandoned fic that covers about three weeks of game time, which translates to six weeks of story time.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Waking Up</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a playthrough fic of Fallout 4 using Horizon v 1.7.6. This is an abandoned fic of five chapters, and I will post a chapter a week. It takes the character a bit past level 10, or about three weeks game time. The story runs longer closer to six weeks; I doubled the days when writing because I feel the default Horizon time frame lets things happen too fast. I'll talk about the reasons I abandoned this fic at the end of Chapter 5.</p><p>Warning: The main character is somewhat...pragmatic in her approach to problems. She shares some of the Brotherhood's attitudes to post-Apocalypse species. She's also not very nice to Piper. (That last one will probably be what upsets people the most.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">October 23, 2287</span><br/>
My name is Raquel "Rocky" Vasquez, and apparently I'm over 200 years old.</p><p>I was born in 2047. I joined the Army shortly after the Chinese invaded Alaska in 2066. I saw my share of action and eventually joined the Rangers. After a few years, I decided I'd had enough. I returned to civilian life with my husband, Nate. We settled into the small town of Sanctuary Hills, Massachusetts. It was hard for me to  forget what I'd seen during my service and to ignore the grim news we heard every day. It was Nate who was my lifeline, who convinced me that we had to build the future. He was the one to convince me to try for a baby, and we got our son, Shaun. Shaun was the best thing that every happened to me. As much as I feared for the future, I had to believe there was something more for him than the misery and gloom I saw.</p><p>I was wrong.</p><p>Due to my service, my family was one of the first ones approved for Vault 111, the Vault-Tec shelter being built outside of town. That seemed like peace of mind. On the day the bombs fell, we had to go past crowds of our neighbors as they begged to be let in. Only a few of us had been approved. I hardened myself as I pushed through, Nate trailing me with the baby. I understood that sometimes you can't save everyone, and right now I only cared about getting my son and my husband to safety. Army units kept order up above, even a couple of soldiers in power armor, and the sound of a minigun spinning up was quick to silence any objections.</p><p>A half-dozen or so of us got on the elevator platform set into the ground. As I stood there waiting, I realized none of us had ever even seen the inside of the place. Vault-Tec always had some excuse. We waited and then was a massive flash to the southwest and a mushroom cloud started to rise. It was impossible to tell how far away it was, but my heart started to race when the elevator didn't move. I looked to the control shack and the technician was frantically pounding the button. Slowly the massive metal plate ground into life and move glacially down into the underground vault. As it did, we could see the shockwave tearing its way across the land. I could do nothing but stand in front of Shaun to shield him from debris. It took long seconds as we sank below ground, and the blast wave roared overhead as the blast doors slammed shut. As I write this I’m suddenly realizing the techs and soldiers were still up there.</p><p>We rode down in darkness, still in shock from what happened. The elevator brought us down into a cavern where cheerful Vault-Tec technicians waited for us. I forced myself out of the shock and carefully took stock. They were ready. They were <em>ready</em> for us. Someone knew the bombs had been coming. Right now that didn't matter, but I filed that away for later.</p><p>I dragged Nate along. He was pale and glassy eyed. I kept talking to him to bring him back to reality. I asked if Shaun was OK and that seemed to wake him up. We use to joke that I was the dad and he was the mom. I was the stern one destined to be the disciplinarian, and he was the nurturing one. And that was okay.</p><p>Inside they quickly moved us along. I recognized the technique. They wanted to get us inside before the real horror of what happened hit and people started to break down. I was impatient but I stood my turn in line. The technicians were moving people as fast as they could, and as I waited I took in every detail. I noted a surprising number of stone-faced security people among the technicians, but I assumed that was in case people started to panic.</p><p>They handed us the same blue jumpsuits they wore, including a tiny one for Shaun. A doctor warmly greeted us and led us further into the vault. He was wearing a Pip-Boy, one of those new portable computers, on his wrist. Nate had wanted to get one but I thought they looked kind of bulky and inconvenient.</p><p>Inside we were shown to changing rooms where we could put on our vault suits. I'm used to wearing a uniform so I didn't mind, though Nate's more of a free spirit so he hesitated a bit at the conformity. They were surprisingly comfortable. I made sure to tell Nate how good he looked in it, and he relaxed and smiled.</p><p>The doctor explained that we'd have to be decontaminated before moving deeper into the vault. This was essential to protect everyone's health. I opened my mouth, but he was ready for my question and assured me it was perfectly safe for the baby. I was skeptical but it's not like I could ask for him to show me the peer reviewed medical studies on the spot. He showed us to these large metal capsules. Each took one person, or in Nate's case one person and a baby. They put us in facing ones so we could watch each other through the windows.</p><p>As I entered the capsule I noticed ice forming inside and a definite coldness to the air. I guess I was more in shock than I thought because I that detail didn’t really register. I settled into the padded backing and the massive door swung down. It slammed shut and a computer voice said, "Resident secured." That broke through my daze. Secured? I heard the sound of air hissing and the temperature dropped suddenly. The window frosted over and I opened my mouth to object, but I felt my consciousness fading as the cold penetrated to my core. Everything went black.</p><p>I don't know how long I was out. I swam out of unconsciousness to the computer saying something about a manual override and cryogenic stasis interruption. My vision slowly came back and I saw Nate's capsule through the window. Then a figure came into view. I struggled to focus and saw it was a woman in a hazmat suit. She pointed to Nate's capsule and said he was the one. A man walked in from the side. He didn't wear a hazmat suit but had some kind of light armor. And a pistol. And a face that bore a long scar and the hardness of a professional soldier. I stayed still. I didn't know if they realized I was awake. I was still trapped in my chamber and didn’t see a release, so it’s not like I could do anything anyhow. The woman opened Nate's capsule and he started to wake up. She reached out for the baby and tried to take him. Nate was still confused but he refused to give up Shaun. The man calmly drew his pistol and shot Nate in the head.</p><p>I didn't scream. I didn't bang on the window. My anger welled up in me but that wasn't going to help. I just stared at the man, memorizing his features. The woman took Shaun from Nate's dead arms and walked out of sight. The man looked at me and walked closer. His eyes met mine through the window and I heard his voice distantly through the thick glass as he said, "At least we have a backup." And then he, too, left. The computer said it was re-engaging stasis, and it all went black again.</p><p>I woke again to the sound of a klaxon. The computer warned that there had been a malfunction and everyone should evacuate the vault. My capsule opened and I collapsed to the floor, struggling to breathe. I forced myself to my feet, shivering, looking around for those two people I had seen before. There was nobody. I stumbled forward to Nate's capsule, which had closed after they left. I found the release and opened it but I didn't need to check him to see he was dead. The bullet had smashed into his eye and through his brain.</p><p>I know how it works. You push the emotion away. You can't afford to feel it now. Fight now. Cry later. And I knew I'd cry later.</p><p>There were six other pods here but none of the others would open. I found a control terminal and it confirmed that life support was offline.  All of the others were dead. I didn't know how I had survived. I noticed that it said my pod was opened remotely; Nate's had been opened manually. Was it an error?</p><p>For now, it didn't matter. I had to find if anyone else was here. My body was shivering and my mind was hazy, but I knew I had to keep moving. I opened the door out of this room into a corridor. I found an emergency exit but it wouldn't open; the computer informed me I should call maintenance. I found another room with six pods, again all the occupants dead.</p><p>I continue to move through the complex, trying to keep my wits about me. I found some tools but nothing that could get through the heavy emergency door, though the hammer felt comforting in my hand. A weapon always helps.</p><p>I came around a corner and jumped as I saw something through the window. It was some kind of shadow or stain that looked like a giant cockroach. I laughed at my imagination...and then it moved and I yelped. It really was a roach about two feet long! Luckily it was on the other side of the window. I wanted to believe it was some kind of optical distortion but I could <em>see</em> it's horrible feet against the glass.</p><p>I continued cautiously. I came to a security room. I rifled through the desks and cabinets. I found some meds and a security baton that would make a better weapon than the hammer. I also found a security terminal, unlocked as it turned out. I opened it hoping to find out where everyone was, or maybe a map of the facility. Instead I found the truth about the vault.</p><p>We were an experiment. The residents were to be put in cryogenic stasis and left there while our vitals to be monitored. There was to be no intervention and no waking us until 80% of the residents had died. After the all clear signal was given, the staff would evacuate and continue to monitor us remotely. And, to be fair, it wouldn't have mattered if I'd reacted sooner and refused to enter the pod. Security would have taken me into detention and then disposed of me after the other residents were secured. Probably Nate and Shaun to. We didn't matter. We were all just lab rats to them, replaceable. My anger at the scarred man was joined by my anger at the monsters who did this to us.</p><p>Part of me wished I'd fought them, taken my chances, but I also knew that was absurd. I had enough combat experience to know an unarmed person, even a soldier, can't prevail against a horde of armed guards.</p><p>The vault was to remained sealed until it received the all clear from Vault-Tec HQ, which would monitor things like radiation levels, enemy invasions, and so on. In the absence of an all clear signal, the vault overseer could choose to evacuate after 180 days. That must be what happened. They just left us here. But if they were monitoring, that means they knew about the emergency and that I was out. It's possible they would be sending people to secure me.</p><p>The security logs were enlightening. There was very quickly a division in the ranks. The scientists were all gung ho about the experiment, but the security people thought it was pretty terrible.  This was made worse because the scientists didn't lower themselves to socialize with the others, and the overseer was overtly on the side of the science team. It became clear, at least to the person keeping the log, that the overseer was keeping something from them. As the 180-day minimum shelter period came near a close, food was running low. The day came, and the exit door mysteriously malfunctioned. The last entry was undated, but it said the food was nearly gone. Security was going to talk to the overseer and they were getting out of the vault one way or another.</p><p>I felt a little better. That implied there might not be anyone waiting for me, but I had no idea how long ago this had happened. Yesterday? Maybe that's what triggered the remote release, but why only me? And who was the man who took Shaun? His clothing wasn't military. He was dressed like a biker, all in leather. Freelancer maybe? Hired by who? And why Shaun?</p><p>And what the fuck was with that cockroach?</p><p>I couldn't think straight. My mind was muddled.  I fell back on my training. When in doubt, focus on the next step. The ultimate objective was to find Shaun, but <em>right now</em> the objective was to get out of here and get some intel.</p><p>As my head started to clear, I started to notice things. Dripping water. Spots of rust. Dirt I could have ignored, but rust? I was starting to think I was all alone here. I moved cautiously anyhow.</p><p>I finally got my chance to see a cockroach up close. It wasn't the same one, because this one was glowing green. It was definitely not on the other side of the glass. I gripped the security baton and advanced. It leapt at me. I blocked it and slammed it with the baton, beating on it even after it was dead. Finally I forced myself to stop and look around in case there were more; there weren't. I took a deep breath and tried to calm my pounding heart. I was a veteran Ranger and I was acting like some green kid. I convinced myself that some of it was my body still adjusting too waking from cold sleep.</p><p>I was feeling a bit better. The movement had warmed my muscles and I did some quick running in place to get my blood moving, staying alert to movement while I did. My head was still fuzzy but I moved forward.</p><p>I found the cafeteria. There were some sinks that still worked, though the water that came out was pretty rusty. Plus I remembered from my training that fallout tends to concentrate in waters you had to be careful. I wasn't thirsty anyhow, though I filled a couple of empty bottles I found just in case.</p><p>A barracks with seven beds. All the lockers were cleaned out. Security must have gotten out, and that meant I could too. The reactor room was still functioning, though one of the reactors was arcing. That probably wasn't good, though it killed another of those roaches. I saw two more further in so I moved carefully. They went down easily enough, though I got a little injured. Do roaches get rabies?</p><p>I found my first resident, long dead. He wore a vault suit like mine, though it was tattered. It might have been a she. I didn't know because it was just a skeleton. Had the roaches eaten the flesh off?</p><p>There were more roaches. I lost count, but I also got better at killing them. I got to an office. A skeleton in a lab coat was there. No roaches here though. How long does it take for a corpse to become a skeleton? Years?</p><p>I found medical supplies here and some 10mm ammo, though no weapon. There was a terminal that I examined. This was apparently the overseer's office; the skeleton was probably the person in question. His logs talked about some cryogenic gun he made; I found the prototype but it was in a locked case. He didn't have the key on him so I ignored it.</p><p>I read his logs. The bastard actually <em>envied</em> us and the wonders we'd get to see. Let's change places, then! You can be a corpsicle and see how you like it. Most of the staff had been alerted in time, and processing the residents went smoothly. He was surprised nobody made trouble. He mentioned that one of the pods got an errant signal that it interpreted as a remote activation. They were able to override it, but I wonder if that's what happened to me. Could it have been just random?</p><p>To be fair, he admitted the reason he never gave the all clear was that he had no idea what the outside was like. We all saw the bomb. How many more fell? Who know what kind of radioactive wasteland was up there? But food was running out and he didn't know what to do. His answer was to prioritize who got what supplies were left. Although I could appreciate his dilemma, he also apparently never considered simply sending a recon team up. He, of course, would have gotten food probably long after everyone else starved.</p><p>His terminal opened the evacuation tunnel. I entered it and froze. There were a half-dozen roaches there, between me and possible freedom. The only other option was to go back, and I already knew there was nothing there. I gripped my baton and strode forward. In the end, I was a little banged up but I had a pile of corpses at my feet. Glad I wasn't squeamish about bugs.</p><p>The corridor lead to the main entrance. There was a massive door, currently closed. I tried to open it from the control panel but the computer informed me I needed a Pip-Boy for operation. There were two other skeletal bodies here and I looked, and found one had a Pip-Boy. I put it on and found it was lighter and more comfortable than I had expected.</p><p>I crossed my fingers and turned it on. It still worked! I flipped through it and it had a number of useful features like health monitoring, Geiger counter, scanning, local maps, and more. Plus, of course, this journaling feature. Man, I wish I'd had something like this in the field. I figured out how to interface it with the vault door and it rumbled open.</p><p>Before I exited, I searched the rest of the entry room and, among other things, found a pistol on one of the skeletons. It was in bad shape and I had only a few rounds of ammo for it, but it might just save my life.</p><p>Outside the door was the elevator we had taken down. Once again I couldn't help but notice the heavy rust. So far everything still worked, if some of the mechanisms were a bit stiff. But that was a long vertical shaft with no other way up or down. What if it didn't work? What if it got stuck halfway?</p><p>I pushed the fear down and focused on the one possibility I could do something about: what if it went up but never came back down? I had no idea what was waiting for me up there, but from the neglect and decay it was obvious I had been down here a while.  I might need everything I could get.</p><p>I swept the area again and realized I was wrong: not everything worked. Some of the doors were stuck and wouldn't open, so large parts of the vault weren't open to me right now. However I scavenged what I could including a shoulder bag, more clothing, medical supplies, a few bottles of rusty water (plus one sealed bottle of purified water that I hoped was still good), and a box of Fancy Lads Snack Cakes. I figured out my Pip-Boy scanner and it revealed that the cakes were slightly radioactive and wouldn't provide much nutrition. Still, it was better than starving.</p><p>With that in mind, I looked at the bodies of one of the giant roaches. I was trained to survive in the field, and if that meant eating grubs and ants then so be it. A giant cockroach wasn't that different. However my brain was fuzzy and my memories sketchy. I knew how to butcher an animal but I found trouble remembering the details. And I certainly never knew how to butcher a cockroach. Insects were more of an "eat 'em whole" snack. The lack of utensils made things interesting as well.</p><p>I tore up the corpses as best I could and ended up with about a pound and a half of...something meat-like. I figured I cook cook the hell out of it or something. But maybe there was a thriving town over my head, and then I could laugh at the idea of eating giant cockroach meat.</p><p>I also picked up most of the junk I could. Metal, plastic and so on could be manufactured into a lot of things.</p><p>Finally I was done. I took a deep breath, stepped on the elevator platform, and hit the button. It almost immediately sprung to life, grinding its way upward with a bone-shaking shriek. But it moved, and it kept moving.  As I neared the top I suddenly found myself wondering if the blast doors would open, or if I would be squashed against them. They opened.</p><p>I hadn't realized how dim the light inside the vault was. I was blinded by the sun straight overhead. I had the pistol out and I whirled around as the elevator ground to a stop, but I could barely see anything. I listened but heard only the wind. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I saw I was alone.</p><p>I stood at the top of a cliff that looked down on Sanctuary Hills. I saw the town and it finally caught up to me. My legs went weak and I fell to my knees. I'll admit it: I started to bawl like a baby. The town was in ruins. Walls and roofs were in pieces, and although some of that was blast damage it was obvious that it was also years of exposure the elements. Maybe decades. This was a ghost town. I was alone.</p><p>I took deep breaths and forced myself to calm down. Fight now. Cry later. I still wasn't safe. If those cockroaches were typical of the wildlife, I'd have to keep an eye out. As for people, well, the kind of people who survive in a place like this might not be friendly. If it was just me, maybe I would have just used one of those few bullets on myself. But it wasn't just me. My baby was out there and I was going to find him. And if that's the only thought that drove me forward, that was enough.</p><p>I pulled myself together and surveyed the vault area. There were some rusted out cars and a couple of trailers. No movement. I watched the town for a while, and again saw no movement. I heard nothing. I thought about calling out, but I wasn't sure what I'd attract if I did.</p><p>Suddenly I noticed the Pip-Boy had a message on the screen. It had a built-in radio and it was detecting a signal. I turned it on hoping to hear a human voice. I did...sort of. It was music. "Uranium Rock" to be exact. Emotion started to well up again but I cautioned myself not to get too excited. It could be an automated station that's been playing the same recording for years. I turned it off because I needed to listen to my surroundings, which was too bad because I would have like to have heard the music.</p><p>I searched the trailers and found more goods and a lot more skeletons. I headed down the path towards town. Maybe there would be people there, though I’d think they would have scavenged the vault area if there were. Maybe there would be some supplies. If nothing else, it was home. I'd need a base camp if I was going to scout out the area.</p><p>I looked for tracks, hoping to find the scarred man, but found nothing. It was clear that whatever happened, a lot of time had passed. Who knows where he had gone?</p><p>As I got closer to Sanctuary Hills, I saw the damage was even worse than I had thought. I barely recognized the place. Weeds grew everywhere. Trees were fallen. The road was cracked. Nobody was living here.</p><p>I crouched as I detected movement on the edge of my vision. I peered out from cover and saw it was a Mr. Handy, old and rusted. I watched it as it carefully trimmed the dead hedges outside of one of the houses. At first I didn't recognize the house but then I counted from the corner and I realized it was my house! It was Codsworth, our domestic robot.</p><p>I stood and walked towards him. When he saw me, he rushed forward. He seemed to be as happy to see me as I was to see him. I looked around at the devastation and asked him what had happened, and he talked about the geraniums. I sighed as I realized that although he might be functioning, that didn't mean he was functioning perfectly.</p><p>I tried to talk to him about what happened but he kept going off on non-sequitors about Halloween costumes and playing checkers. He casually mentioned that we had been gone 210 years, and I had no idea whether to believe him or not considering his odd behavior. Frustrated, I demanded to know what was going on and he broke down in...well not tears, but whatever the robot equivalent is. It had been terrible for him. He had been alone, left behind when we went to the vault without him. He had been waiting, trying his best to sweep the floors as the leaves blew in, polish the car as the rust started, and trimming the plants as they withered away. He assumed we had died and didn't know what to do other than his duties.</p><p>I felt a laugh bubbling up inside me, but it wasn't a healthy laugh so I took a deep breath and tried to calm the both of us down. Cursing my stupidity, I looked at the Pip-Boy and of course it had a date. As detailed here, it showed October 23, 2287, which makes it 210 years after the bombs fell.</p><p>Codsworth suggested we search the town for Nate and Shaun. He still didn't understand that Nate was dead, and I knew the scarred man wouldn't be hiding out here, but I wanted to search the town for supplies anyhow. We made a quick sweep and found giant flies that spit maggots at us, but no people. Codsworth felt defeated but finally admitted there were people in Concord, though he said they were a "bit rough" and attacked him when he went there. Concord was just down the road.</p><p>I was tempted to charge in, but I still remembered the food problem. I decided to do a more thorough search of the town and see if I could find food and water before I continued to Concord.</p><p>Now that I was safe I turned the radio back on and heard a human voice, a real voice this time. It was a DJ, a terrible, terrible DJ, but a DJ nonetheless. He talked about a placed called Diamond City and stuttered a commercial about some meat seller there. There was still civilization out there. I asked Codsworth but he hadn't heard of it, and I certainly don't remember some place by that name, but it was a glimmer of hope.</p><p>I was pretty happy with what I found in my search of the neighboring houses. My neighbors had some interesting hobbies. I found workbenches where I could fix guns and armor, a working stove, and even a drug making lab. I found a makeshift bomb shelter with quite a few supplies and, if nothing else, a secure bed. I also found a nice hunting manual. I already knew the information was in it, but I was having trouble remembering things. Reading it helped me reconnect to the memories.</p><p>The drug dealer was selling to people in nearby towns. He had a safe but it was protected by an explosive charge. I couldn't see how to disarm it so I left it for now.</p><p>I found a fishing rod, cast a few lines and caught a fish but it was a bit odd looking. Unfortunately the old reel finally jammed; I'll have to try to fix it later. I ground up the fish and some of the less disgusting meat I found but nothing really looked worth eating yet.</p><p>The sun was getting low but the Red Rocket station was just down the road. I hadn’t found much food so I decided to check it out tonight. I found a fresh body on the road next to the body of a wild dog. They apparently killed each other. The man had a crude rifle made out of sections of pipe, and he had a few rounds of the .38 ammo it used. I wondered if he was one of the rough people from Concord. Either way, I knew I’d have to be careful.</p><p>As I approached the station I saw a dog sniffing among the junk. I put my hand on my pistol, but when he saw me he didn't growl. His tail wagged, he bounded over and whined at me. He seemed friendly enough. I gave him some of the nastier meat I had and he gobbled it up hungrily. He followed me. I'm not much of a dog person, but it never hurts to have a combat buddy.</p><p>That turned out to be right because he alerted me to an ambush by giant mole rats. I managed to fight them off mostly with my baton -- I'm still trying to conserve ammo -- and he was a big help. Unfortunately I felt sick after one of the rats bit me. I hope it wears off because I don't have the materials to do anything about it.</p><p>Inside the station was some decent equipment and even some ammo. On their computer I found an email that said that they were dumping chemicals in a secret cave. I decided to check it out and discovered what I expected: toxins, radiation and giant rats. I cleared out the rats, which was a bit challenging. One of them had that green glow the one roach did, and my Geiger clicked as he attacked.</p><p>I found a few more choice items that I carried back to Sanctuary Hills. In addition to various salvage there were two kinds of plants I haven’t seen before. I’ve dubbed them Brian Fungus and Glowing Fungus. I have no idea if they are edible, but I took them anyhow. I got better quality meat from the rats, plus I had found a switchblade that made it easier to butcher the corpses. I found some pre-war food in the bunker and in the mole rat cave. None of it was particularly edible on its own after all this time, but as my survival memories came back I was able to examine the meals, extract the edible parts, and put together an adequate meal.</p><p>It was getting late. I decided to sleep in the root cellar. I told Codsworth to start cleaning up the area, the leaves and dead trees and so on. He was excited to have new instructions. He really wasn't good at setting his own goals.</p><p>So here I sit, in a makeshift bomb shelter. Twenty-four hours ago -- or 210 years ago depending on how you count it -- I was a wife and a mother living a suburban life. Now my husband is dead and my son may be as well. I'm alone in a brutal world. Well, not alone I guess, though a dog and a Mr. Handy aren't quite the same as human company. I want to cry over Nate and Shaun but I just feel dead inside right now. I'm thirsty but I'm not sure if I should drink the small supply of purified water I've found. I'll decide in the morning. For now, I'm going to go to sleep.</p><p>
  
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Meeting the Locals</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">October 24, 2287</span><br/>
I felt better this morning, so I guess the rat bite didn’t give me anything permanent. I finally decided to drink one bottle of purified water, and it tasted amazing. I fried up the safe parts of the meat I had recovered and it made a decent but unfilling breakfast. However, short of cracking open the can of dog food I found, I figured I'd ride it out my hunger for a bit. The plan was to check out Concord with the dog. I was hoping that the people there were just leery of a robot and would greet a human more warmly, or at least not hit me with sticks.</p><p>At the edge of Concord I saw two giant mosquitoes feed on some kind of deformed cow. I killed them. The pipe rifle isn't a bad weapon and I have more of the .38 ammo it takes than the 10mm for the pistol. The bug meat was nothing special but the cow gave beef, and beef is always good. Even if it is from a cow with two heads. Yup, you read that right. But I guess anyone reading this probably knows about two-headed cows and giant mosquitoes.</p><p>As I moved deeper into town I heard gunfire, steady gunfire, both ballistic and energy weapons. I crouched down and moved in quickly but cautiously. I saw a man in the old Freedom Museum firing an energy rifle down at some people in the street. I wasn't sure who was who, but the people in the street started firing once they saw me so that made my decision. I fired back and killed them.</p><p>The man in the museum shouted down that there was a group of settlers inside. He begged me to help. There were more raiders inside and they were nearly through the door.</p><p>I went in and it was a tactical nightmare. The core of the building was gutted. I had no cover and was surrounded. I finally dashed into a side corridor and carefully advanced through the building. Interior fights are always tricky, but I had better tactics than they did. I got hurt, but they got dead.</p><p>The man who had called down to me was holed up in a room with four settlers. His name was Preston Garvey and he said he was with the Minutemen. From what he said I gathered they were a militia, but he said things had gone bad and he was the last Minuteman standing. The group numbered twenty a month ago, eight a day ago, and five now, and he was the only one with military training. I could see he was barely holding it together.</p><p>He said something about ghouls in Lexington. I figured they were a gang of some kind and he was surprised when I asked about them. He said that when people are highly irradiated sometimes they turn into deformed humans called ghouls. Most of them are just people who look all burned up, but in some of them the radiation rots their brains and they go feral. That sounded bad, and it made me wonder how many of the "just people" are a moment away from going crazy, but that was a conversation for another time.</p><p>They came to Concord hoping to settle, but there is a raider group that makes their home here. More were already gathering outside. We could hold here but the settlers had no food or water. It would be a short siege. But Preston had an idea. He turned the conversation over to Sturges the tech. Sturges told me there was a crashed vertibird on the roof; I'm embarrassed to admit I hadn't noticed it. I'm still pretty zonked from my long sleep. My situational awareness is really poor right now and it is going to get me killed if I don't get it together. Anyhow, the vertibird wasn't the plan; the suit of T-45 power armor aboard was.</p><p>Unfortunately the fusion core in the power armor was long dead. There was another one in the basement but it was behind a security door. Nobody in the group knew how to get past it. I had some basic lockpicking and hacking skills so I said I'd check it out. Once I got the suit, I could rip the minigun off the vertibird and take out the reinforcements. I had some basic power armor training in the military, though I'm not a fan of it. I prefer more of a stealthy approach. But I can pilot a suit.</p><p>One of the settlers was an old woman called Mama Murphy. She knew the dog and said his name was Dogmeat. She has visions that she claims comes from chems. She warned me something is coming, something angry drawn by the battle. The other two were a nervous woman named Marcy and a man called Jun who was deep in shock.</p><p>I hacked the control computer and got the fusion core from the power plant behind the security door. Then I headed for the roof.</p><p>Near the power armor I found a holotape, a recording from a Sergeant Daly who had been aboard the vertibird. He confirmed that the nuclear detonations had been part of a global event but he didn't know much more. The bird went down due to EMP. The pilot was killed on impact and the co-pilot died shortly thereafter. Two of his squad were killed by panicked civilians and the third went AWOL. He was going to do the same, heading to Boston hoping to find family.</p><p>The armor was a mess. Most of the armor pieces were rusted to uselessness. But the frame was intact and that gave me the strength to tear the minigun off the bird.</p><p>I moved to the edge of the building and opened fire. The raider leader was smart enough to fall back. Miniguns were powerful but had a lot of scatter at range. I didn't want to waste rounds on a spray &amp; pray, so I leapt down to the street and pursued them. I was making progress, though the rusted holes in the armor meant I took some damage, when suddenly there was a powerful roar and the ground shook. A metal access plate in the street shot up, killing one of the raiders, and a huge shape leapt out of the hole.</p><p>I'm not even sure how to describe it. It was reptilian, but bipedal and immense, at least eight feet tall. It was hard to tell because it was hunched over as it tore into the raiders. This wasn't a friend though, and I quickly poured fire into it until the barrels glowed red hot. It charged into my fire like I was spraying it with a hose. The raiders were smart enough to realize it was a bigger enemy and they fired as well, and Preston supported as best he could from the museum. Even Dogmeat got in and harassed it. With so many targets it got confused, and I was able to gun it down. But I genuinely believe it could have torn open the power armor and pulled me out of it.</p><p>Preston would later tell me it was called a deathclaw.</p><p>It went down and there was a moment of respite, and then the raiders suddenly remembered I was their enemy, and attacked. I was out of ammo so I pulled my machete and tore into them that way. In the end I was bloodied and tired, but I had won. As I looked over the battlefield I thought to myself that the guns I was finding were either poor quality or badly maintained. In addition, my ammo supplies were trivial. I used to have some gun smithing skills, more memories lost in the haze of 200 years of cryogenic stasis. I vowed to spend some time tinkering back in Sanctuary Hills to get those skills back.</p><p>I looted the bodies and then went back into the Museum. Preston was amazed at the battle and grateful for the help. He told me the group had been following a vision of Mama Murphy's, of a place called Sanctuary that they could make a home. He asked if I wanted to join them there. From his description of the location, it's pretty obvious they are talking about Sanctuary Hills. I agreed to escort them there.</p><p>I was still in the power armor because if nothing else it could be a powerful lifter. The walk was uneventful and we arrived back at Sanctuary Hills in a few hours. On the trip, Mama Murphy told me my destiny still lies before me. I wanted to dismiss her ravings but she said I was a woman out of time, and that she knew my son was alive. And her prediction about "something angry" certainly fit the deathclaw. She admitted she knows she sounds crazy, but that's the visions. They are hard to put into words. But she could tell me one thing clearly: my path leads to the Jewel of the Commonwealth, Diamond City. She couldn’t say more. The visions only come when she gets chems. Preston said the chems were going to kill her but she insisted she was fine. Like every drug addict.</p><p>Marcy wasn't happy about following crazy Mama Murphy's vision but admitted she didn't have a better plan. She seemed genuinely surprised there was a Sanctuary. I now realize the sign at the edge of the town is partially covered with overgrown vines, and the "Hills" part of it hidden. I guess Sanctuary is a good as name as any.</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 25, 2287</span><br/>
I asked Preston if he believed in Mama Murphy's visions. He admitted he didn't used to but that there had been too many times she had been right. I had to agree. What she said about Sanctuary, about me being out of time, about me looking for my son -- how could she have known these things?</p><p>I'm not sure I'm ready to trust Preston with the truth about my past yet, but he didn’t push me about it. He said he's met plenty of people trying to leave their past behind, and that's fine with him. For now, he said he hopes he can depend on my help.</p><p>I asked him about Diamond City. He showed me where it is on my Pip-Boy and I realized it's in the heart of Boston. In fact I think it might be located at Fenway Park. The name would certainly make sense. But he warned me that it's a tough trip. In addition to raiders and ghouls, super mutants have taken parts of the surrounding city.</p><p>When I asked him about super mutants, he gave me that same funny look when I asked about the ghouls. Super mutants are mutated humanoids, strong and kind of stupid, but utterly vicious and incredibly dangerous. There are traders who know the safe routes to Diamond City, but he himself doesn't. Most of the Commonwealth, as this area is now called, is wild and unsettled. There are pockets of civilization, like Diamond City, but the roads in between are treacherous. Few caravans risk the trip, and those that do are well guarded.</p><p>Rangers will go alone into danger, but that doesn't mean we charge in like action heroes. Me getting dead isn't going to help Shaun. What I needed was good recon. I could make some forays, maybe venturing out a little farther each time, but it would be nice to have a home base. I still was a little hungry and thirsty. A settlement putting out good food and clean water would help. Locals who had knowledge of the area. Trade contacts to get me better armor and weapons. I had picked up a few pieces of cobbled together armor from the raiders, but it wasn't like military combat armor. I had poor weapons and little ammo.</p><p>And frankly, if a few chems let Mama Murphy lead me to Shaun, then so be it.</p><p>Preston hesitantly asked me if I might consider doing a favor. The Minutemen are supposed to protect the people of the Commonwealth. He's heard that settlers in a place called Tenpines Bluff are being harassed by raiders. He needs to stay and watch over Sanctuary for now. He asked that, if I happen to go that way, I check in and see if I can help. He showed me the location on my map. It wasn’t too far so I said I’d consider it.</p><p>The group started creating a more permanent camp and I pitched in. I cleared out one of the houses and dragged in the best beds I could find. It wasn't pretty, but it would work. Sturges got a generator going and cobbled together a pump for the well that Jun dug. Marcy cleaned up the gardens behind one of the houses. There were already melons and gourds on the vine and soon there would be more. Preston started working on a watch tower at this end of the bridge that led out of town. The surrounding water wasn't deep so it's not like we were invulnerable, but it would help us spot raiders if nothing else. Mama Murphy knew a few recipes for radroach (the giant roaches) and bloat fly and mole rat, and a few things about which plants were safe and which weren’t.</p><p>While we worked, we talked. Lucky for me they were happy to talk about themselves so I didn't have to overtly dodge questions about my past. They were refugees from Quincy where there had been some kind of massacre; nobody wanted to go into details. Jun admitted his son died there; that's certainly something I could sympathize with. I figured that keeping busy would help him deal with the stress. That's how I'm dealing with it anyhow.</p><p>In the evening I perused a magazine I found in the bomb shelter about how to make your own ammo. I had some basic gun repair skills but I had never dallied in ammo manufacturer. I figured I'd set up a workbench. Sturges saw me reading an mentioned he knew a guy who bought old magazines if I was interested. I wanted to keep this one, but I'd keep an eye out.</p><p>After sunset Preston yelled a warning from the watchtower. I came running and found him peering into the darkness, standing next to a wrapped bundle. A raider had popped out of the bushes, flung it across the bridge, and bolted. I unwrapped it and it was the severed head of a cat along with a note that the next time I killed some of his people, it would be my head in the package. I assumed it was from the local raider leader.</p><p>I drank the last of my purified water before going to bed and ate a burger made from the dead cow I had found, apparently called a brahmin. That didn't leave me much.</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 26, 2287</span><br/>
My hunger pangs were getting worse. The settlers were managing to get a little food through foraging and fishing, but it wasn't enough to keep me going.  I doubted there was much food left in Concord. I decided to scout out the local area for more plants and wildlife. I left Dogmeat behind to help guard the town and brought Codsworth along as a pack mule. And, to be fair, as a combat distraction. Let them shoot at the robot rather than me.</p><p>I found wildlife, but not the kind I had hoped for. I encountered raiders, four plus an attack dog, in a small camp nearby. I'm not sure if they were scouting the settlement or just passing through and they weren't in a talking mood. In hindsight, I probably should have avoided them. However after the engagement, I was the one standing so it worked out. But if I don’t stop being reckless, I’m going to die.</p><p>After dealing with them I saw a cabin nearby. As I closed I saw it was home to bloat flies. I cleared them out but suddenly a storm blew in. I wouldn't have thought much about it but the air turned green and my Geiger started to tick, so I decided to get out of there. As I left I noticed a farm house and some kind of industrial yard. I kind of remember there was some kind of shipping company near town in my day, though I don't remember the farm off hand.</p><p>I ran back home and we're now hunkered down in the root cellar waiting for the storm to pass. My hunger pangs finally got bad enough that I was willing to try eating the radroach and bloatfly meat. They weren't bad if I didn't think about it too much. I was still hungry though.</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 27, 2287</span><br/>
We set up a compost bin to get rid of, among other things, the diseased and gristly meat I found. It would convert to fertilizer to help our crops. With the storm over, I decided to check out the farm. On the way I saw a water tower. I checked it out and was pleased to find several bottles of purified water there.</p><p>I looked down on the farm from a hidden position. I saw three people and they were just digging in the dirt. I saw weapons, but that was simple survival. As near as I could tell, they were just farmers. I stood up and approached, weapon drawn but lowered. They saw me and got nervous, but I called out that I didn't want a fight.</p><p>They were the Abernathy family: husband Blake, wife Connie, and teenage daughter Lucy. They grew tatos, a hybrid between potatoes and tomatoes, as well as melons. They even offered to pay me if I helped out. I wasn't interested in the work, though I was intrigued by the money they offered. They were bottle caps. Apparently old Nuka Cola bottle caps had become a standard currency in the Commonwealth. I guess it makes sense: durable, distinctive, and not easily manufactured.</p><p>We talked a bit more and Blake cursed the raiders that were constant thorns in their sides. They had a second daughter, Mary, who had been killed in the last attack. He said he wished the Minutemen were still around. When I told him about Preston he was, well, not as happy as you might have thought. I think he blamed them for not being there.</p><p>His wife was nicer about it. She gave me a few tatos and melons, and I was shocked by her generosity. Connie shrugged it off and said she was happy to help the Minutemen. Blake grunted agreement. I did give her a few trade goods in return just to be fair, and I think she appreciated that.</p><p>As I was leaving, Blake said that in the last raid, the raiders took a locket that had belonged to his wife's grandmother. He suspected they were coming from an old Air Force station nearby, and would appreciate it if I could get the locket back.</p><p>I checked out the cabin I had seen. Inside was a skeleton. I found a holotape diary. She had been a pregnant teenager who ran away from home. It was the day before the bombs fell.</p><p>On my way back to Sanctuary I came across two stags. I was able to take them both down with my pipe rifle, though I burned through nearly all my ammo. I got a fair amount of meat out of it though.</p><p>I also came across some dead raiders. Each had a business card from a place called the Pickman Gallery in Boston. On the back of each card was a heart drawn in what looked like blood, and the note "Find me if you dare!" scrawled underneath it. Each raider had been killed by a knife, quite expertly. I wondered about this man.</p><p>Back in Sanctuary, after the sun set, I noticed a light to the north and decided to investigate. It was a house. Inside was a raider. Also inside was the corpse of a woman. I'd guess it had been her house until he decided to make himself at home. Well, he's not a problem anymore.</p><p>We prepared a fine supper from the radstag meat and it cheered the settlers. Me too in fact. This is the first time I'm not going to bed hungry, though I can't see it lasting. The radstags were a fluke.  I need to figure out what to do next: go after the raiders for the Abernathys, find out what Tenpines needs, or go explore Concord and scavenge for supplies. There was also the shipping yard, but I doubted there would be food or water there. Hell, I could even try the road to Diamond City. Not only might I find a path to Shaun, but Preston figured there was probably a doctor there. Some of my injuries could use medical attention rather than the first aid I've been using.</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 28, 2287</span><br/>
I told them the truth today. Not all of the details -- I didn't have the energy for that -- but the basics: when I was born, the vault, the stasis, Nate's murder, Shaun's abduction. I figured between Mama Murphy's visions, Codsworth's comments, and the evidence in the town they would figure it out soon enough. Mama Murphy just nodded as though she already knew. Marcy didn't care. Jun didn't really seem to be listening, but he started to cry when I talked about Shaun. Preston and Sturges were the most sympathetic. Sturges was very interested in the possibility of exploring a vault but I told him sternly I had locked it down. Did I mention that? I locked down the elevator control computer and I had the only password. Our current needs were simple: food, water and, since the raiders might be back, weapons. None of that is in the vault. Later it might be a resource, but not now. Besides, I reminded him, it was also the crypt that held the bodies of my neighbors, friends and husband. I wasn't ready to disturb them just yet.</p><p>Mama Murphy pulled me aside later and talked about her visions. She noticed I had picked up some an inhaler off the raiders. I didn't know what it was and she explained it was a chem called jet. She was obviously addicted and I wondered if she was lying or not, but if it led to Shaun then I wasn't about to hesitate. I gave her one, she took a dose, and then gave me a long rambling vision. It was something about finding answers in Diamond City but they are locked inside people's hearts. I should follow the hearts that shines brightly in the dark alleys of the city, follow the clues would to lead me to Shaun. It didn't really give me any more information than I had before.</p><p>Codsworth made a disapproving clicking noise but I ignored him.</p><p>I started out towards the Air Force base. I hoped to be able to hit them and possibly check in at Tenpines by sunset. Concord still looked like an interesting salvage spot, but I doubted much food or ammo was left after all these years. I passed by a rock quarry on the road and added it to my list of places to investigate later. I kept feeling like I was being followed, but I didn't see anything.</p><p>I came across some bloatflies harassing a radstag, making it easier to kill.</p><p>As I neared the Air Force base, I heard gunfire so I approached from cover.  The raider guard was dealing with mole rats and bloat flies, but again that just made it easier to kill him and his two attack dogs. The facility itself was underground and protected by traps and turrets.</p><p>My combat experience is good, but my body and mind are still recovering. It wasn't as easy a fight as it should have been. At one point, I got a bad injury to my arm and it was useless. Luckily I was able to take the raider in question down and use the trauma kit I'd been carrying around. In another part of the complex I found some bandages, which is good because I was out, and even a medical magazine that might be useful later.</p><p>I still hadn't found the locket so I pressed on. The chick with the minigun made it interesting. I ambushed her, took her down with two pistol shots to the head, but then I made a mistake: I fell back. Another raider came forward, picked up the minigun, and opened up on me. I was in a bad position so he was harder to take out, and I was pretty chewed up by the time he was dead. I went through two combat stimpaks, half my supply.</p><p>I managed to clear the place out, though it wasn't the most elegant operation I've ever been part of. I got a lot of decent salvage as well as a few prizes like a covert ops manual, some ammo (though nothing for the weapons I have), a few junky weapons, and a consumer magazine talking about how to build your own energy ammo. I even found a mini-nuke in a locked room, though I wasn't sure what use it was to me. I'm glad the raider didn't get it though. And of course I found the locket in question.</p><p>I was tired and injured but Tenpines wasn't that far off. It was getting late, though. After some thought I decided to head for Tenpines instead of back to Sanctuary. The trip was short but eventful. I was trying to avoid some wild dogs when I got attacked by giant insects. Luckily they were feeding on some kind of large bear, which I later learned is called a yao guai. I got some meat out of that. Then I decided to go after the wild dogs anyhow. I thought there were two; there were three. But I managed, and again that meant more meat for me.</p><p>I arrived at Tenpines after sunset. It was just a husband and wife tending a small farm. They were being harassed by raiders operating out of the old Corvega plant in Lexington. They were both skeptical of my desire to help and grateful that I was willing to look into it. It turns out they knew the Abernathys, well knew of them anyhow. They were sorry to hear about their daughter; I made a point of mentioning that I retrieved the locket. That seemed to make them more interested in helping us out if I helped them. I'm staying the night here, which they don't really appreciate but then it wasn't really a request on my part. I don't mean them any harm, but I'm tired and hurt so they can fucking put me up for the night.</p><p>It seems clear to me that the settlers in the area just needed to band together. There were too many places like this: a family tending a farm and paying off raiders. If they could find a leader like Preston who would forge some kind of defense alliance, they could do some good. Train up a few Minutemen as a mobile militia, it could make a real difference. It's not about killing the raiders; it's about making yourself not worth the trouble.</p><p>
  <span class="u">October 29, 2287</span><br/>
Lexington wasn't close, and I certainly hadn't planned to head out there right away. Instead I decided to head back to Sanctuary. That's the way I look to run mission: strike out from a central base, but head back to base between operations. It gives some stability.</p><p>I made good time. I was retreading the same ground so I knew it was safe-ish. There is always the possibility of someone coming up behind you, but it's certainly better than exploring new territory. I made good enough time that I decided to check out the quarry. It was flooded. I found a guy named Sully (was that his name?) who was trying to fix the pump. He said the quarry should be full of good salvage. The problem was there were leaks in some of the pipes and he needed someone to go into the water to close some valves. He was willing to give me 50 caps plus a share of the salvage. I talked him up to 100, but also told him it wouldn't be soon. He shrugged and said the job might not still be waiting when I got back. It seemed like a good deal, but right now I wasn't willing to get more rads than I needed to. And if he found a sucker, good for him. He still might be a good source of trade, and the quarry itself could be useful to the settlers even after the scrap was cleaned out.</p><p>I made a quick scavenging run through Concord, but when me and Codsworth (I'm still using him as a pack mule) were loaded down, I headed back to Sanctuary. The settlers had continued to clean up the place. Jun seemed a bit better; he admitted the work was helping him keep his mind off his son. Marcy was still as sour as ever but I found out she had asked Sturges build a more comfortable chair for Mama Murphy, and had helped gather the materials.</p><p>Mama wanted another dose. She looked through my haul from the raiders and zeroed in on the mentats. At first her vision was the usual vague nonsense. I needed to find the man who would help me but he wouldn't be what I expected. He was somewhere deep, surrounded by mean people. But an echo from his past can help me. However at the end she got more specific. When I meet the fat man and the angry woman I should remind them of the quarry and Lilly June on the rocks. I had her repeat the name to be sure.</p><p>
  
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  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Making Alliances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u">October 30, 2287</span><br/>
It's a week now, a week since I woke up, a week (in my perspective) since the bombs fell, since Nate was murdered, since Shaun was taken. It feels longer. And shorter. Ugh, enough philosophizing.</p><p>I headed over to Abernathy Farm first thing. They were overjoyed that I had gotten Mary's locket back. They agreed to help Sanctuary get established. Sturges had tinkered with one of the non-working household utility bots in Sanctuary. He got it working as a cargo bot, running supplies between the farm and Sanctuary. I worked to help them set up some better defenses, and passed out some of the raider armor and weapons I had collected.</p><p>Apparently word is getting out about us. A man showed up and asked if he could join our settlement. He seemed like a decent enough guy, not a raider, so I put him to work expanding our food production. He offered me a magazine that gave more tips about creating energy weapon ammo and I added it to my library. He gave me a little info on the Commonwealth. The most interesting bit was he had heard from a traveling trader of a town called Covenant on the shore of Mystic Lake. It's supposed to be a pretty well developed settlement and he thought there was a doctor there, though he warned me they are pretty suspicious of strangers.</p><p>My mind is clearer today. Some of my old knowledge is flowing back, not just my combat awareness but also field medic, technical skills, and even scavenging tips. There had been a laser tripwire at the Air Force base and I went blank on how to disarm it, so I simply shot it. But now I feel stupid because it's actually an easy trigger to disarm.</p><p>Unfortunately my body isn't as good. I'm pretty sure I picked up parasites at some point. My wounds aren't great but my returning medic knowledge let me throw together another trauma kit and some better bandages. Unfortunately I just don't have the materials to make antibiotics so I'm going to live with the little worms for a while.</p><p>I had seriously been considering trying for Diamond City today, but the news of Covenant intrigued me. Mystic Lake is closer than Boston and doesn't take me through Cambridge. I suspected than an urban area like Cambridge is likely to be heavily populated, but not necessarily by friendlies. It seemed clear I had a violent future in front of me, and access to a doctor was likely to be critical. So I decided to set out and find the place.</p><p>On the trip I found a campsite. Nobody was there but luckily I spotted the mines. I backed off. I later spotted some brahmin. My stomach growled at all that beef on the hoof, but they were big, bigger than the radstag. I didn't have the firepower to take one down. Pity. It was probably just as well because not too much further down the road I found more mines, these in the middle of the road. I would hate to have run into them while hunting the brahmin.</p><p>I choked up a little as I passed by the Starlight Drive-In. Nate and I had gone there now and then. I idly wondered if the snack bar was still stocked, but I also knew the pre-war food bordered on inedible at this point. This was also the first time I got a look at the elevated highways, mostly crumbled now. At first I was surprised there was so much damage after just 200 years, but then I realized most of this was probably blast damage.</p><p>I heard gunfire as I neared the lake, long before Covenant. I saw a raider beset by mole rats in an old landfill. Weapons on one; meat on the other. Interesting. In hindsight, it might have been a bit reckless. There were more rats than I thought, and I definitely felt sick when it was over. But I got a lot of meat out of it and even some meds from a shack on site.</p><p>The shack doesn't look like anyone's lived here, presumably because of the rats. I think I got them all but I set up some simple alarms with empty cans so I think I'll be fine to sleep here tonight.</p><p><span class="u">October 31, 2287</span><br/>
Happy Halloween! Plenty of monsters out. Not a lot of people handing out candy, though.</p><p>I arrived at Covenant in the late morning, a bit later than I had hoped. It was not what I expected, but in a good way. I figured it would be a collection of ramshackle homes. The first thing I saw was the wall, a sturdy brick affair ten feet high that surrounded the town. It was topped with razor wire and machine gun turrets. Inside I could see the tops of well-constructed houses. It was like looking at a pre-war town. Sitting outside the heavy gate was a man dressed in a suit. He had no weapon I could see. I lowered my own and approached with a wave. He cheerfully waved back.</p><p>As I got closer I saw the suspicious eyes behind the smile. He watched me carefully. His name was Swanson and he said if I wanted to visit the town, I was welcome, as long as I passed the entrance test. I pumped him for information and said the test kept out "undesirables".  When I tried to pursue that question, he clammed up. Somehow I didn't think he just meant raiders. Honestly I wasn't sure if he was talking about race, wealth or even disease but at this point I didn't care. Save judgment for later.</p><p>I agreed to take the test. He assured me it was just a simple psychological examination, one of those "no wrong answers" test. Yeah, if there were no wrong answers, then they'd let everyone in. The questions were strange: what baseball position would I want to play, what would I do if my grandmother asked me to kill someone, what would I do if a mutated hand grew out of my stomach.</p><p>I passed and he opened the gate. It was a small settlement, and all the people were friendly...kind of desperately so. Kind of "sci-fi movie" friendly. However I wasn't the only outsider. I saw a guy, armed and armored but didn't give off a raider vibe, questioning one of the residents. He was demanding to know about a caravan that came through. The resident claimed to know nothing and quickly scurried off.</p><p>The outsider saw me and came over. His name was Honest Dan, and he was a trader who worked for someone named Old Man Stockton. One of Stockton's caravans didn't report in and he was investigating. He tracked them here and found the remains of the caravan just down the road. One of the members was Stockton's daughter, Amelia. He was getting frustrated and would be happy for some help. If I can help find just one survivor, he'll split the reward with me.</p><p>The town leader, Jacob, approached me after Dan left. He said, in that nice way everyone had, that I should be careful about Mr. Dan. People had complained about him. He suggested I visit Penny's store tomorrow -- she'd already closed for the day -- and that there was also a doctor in town.</p><p>Doctor Patricia seemed pretty sharp, and less creepy than the others. Unfortunately, I was a mess. In addition to my injuries and parasites, I had picked up a disease, probably from an animal bite, and some radiation from some of the food and water I'd taken. But she knew how to fix it. I was a little short of caps, and since the store was closed so I couldn't sell off my trade goods. However she looked over my stuff and there were a few items she took as barter, stuff like cloth for bandages, and we were able to work out a deal. At her recommendation, I'm staying the night. She said there would be no additional charge for that. That was good because it gave me a chance to poke around.</p><p>I found a flyer in the garbage, instructions on how to treat visitors. It said to be friendly but not to draw suspicions, and to encourage people to bring their friends. That was odd enough but then it said to never talk about "synths" or "the Institute". I asked Jacob about that and his veneer dropped for just a moment. He got angry and said there were none of those "things" here. Then he remember himself, gained his composure, and quickly changed the subject.</p><p>I asked Dan about synths and he gave me a better answer. Synths are synthetic people, indistinguishable from humans, created by a placed called the Institute. As for what the Institute is, nobody knows. They are kind of a secret boogeyman that gets blamed for everything that goes wrong from crop failures to massacres, but nobody has ever actually been there or has any proof they even exist. Synths are real, though, and they are infiltrating human settlements. I didn't need him to tell me that infiltration never has a good motive behind it. I will have to be on my guard for those things.</p><p>I headed out to the site of the caravan massacre, hoping to get back before sunset. Sure enough, they were there. There were three male bodies, and there had been five in the caravan. One of the missing ones must be Stockton's daughter, but Dan had already told me that. What was interesting was they had several bottles of lemonade; a Mr. Handy had offered me a bottle like that in town. Dan was right: they had been to Covenant, and the fact Covenant was lying about that meant they were hiding something.</p><p>I headed back to town. As night fell, a caravan came by, a guy named Lucas who specialized in armor. We did some trading. I asked if he ever got north of Concord and he said no. I told him about our settlement and he said he'd spread the word.</p><p>The place locked up at night so I didn't have much of a chance to go through the other buildings. I did find something interesting in the garbage: a holotape about something called the Railroad. They apparently are trying to help the synths, claiming they are slaves and victims of the Institute. Sounds like Institute propaganda designed to lower people's guard and get them to trust the infiltrators.</p><p>I didn't find much other than a sleeping bag that probably belonged to some trader, but it had no markings so I couldn't tie it to Stockton. Yes the people were nervous, especially when I asked about synths. Yes there were an awful lot of turrets for such a small town. Finally I turned in. Maybe I could find out more in the morning.</p><p><span class="u">November 1, 2287</span><br/>
When the buildings opened up again I was able to wander around a bit more. I checked out the store and, when Penny's back was turned,  I got a peek at her ledger. She was going through an awful lot of ammo and stimpaks, and there was a note that the rate was unsustainable and to ask C if it was possible to lower the rate. Who was C?</p><p>More telling is when I got into Jacob's office. I found a report that talked about the entrance test and said the Stockton caravan had 2 failures; 2 people were missing. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. In the back of the office was a door, in the door was a cell. I knew an enhanced interrogation room when I saw one.</p><p>But then I hit the jackpot. While searching another house I found a password taped beneath a table. Sure enough, it unlocked the computer in Jacob's office, and that's where I started to find real evidence. They are a team on a mission, and there is reference to the Compound. The Compound give them their orders. Dr. Patricia was transferred from there, possibly as a compassionate gesture after something happened. His notes weren't clear on the details. I also found that some fisherman had chosen a favorite spot on the shore of the  lake outside, and that spot was right at the entrance to the Compound.</p><p>Codsworth hated all this. He didn't like the sneaking around and stealing evidence. He needs to learn his place.</p><p>It's not hard to put it together. They are a team sent to root out synth infiltrators. The test they gave me somehow reveals synths, and two of the caravan failed the test. As for the others, well, they weren't going to take kindly to the abduction of people they thought were their friends, so you make it look like a bandit attack.</p><p>Let's be blunt: I've done worse in the defense of my country. But that doesn't mean they are in the right.</p><p>I was mulling it over when Jacob came over. In that same friendly way, but with a hardness in his eyes, he said he knows I've been poking around and I need to just drop it. We talked a bit and I showed some sympathy for what they were doing. He admitted nothing, but said this was above his pay grade. I needed to talk to his superiors at the Compound.</p><p>Dan wanted to know if I'd found anything but I put him off. I just said I was still investigating.</p><p>A fog rolled it, which made it easier for me to get into the Compound without alerting the fisherman they were concerned about. Inside the guard captain wasn't happy to see me; Jacob's word just kept me from getting shot, not into the Compound. But I talked my way past him and he took me to Dr. Chambers, who was in charge.</p><p>She was an angry woman who said we can either come to an agreement or I can die. Considering the amount of security I'd seen on the way in, she was right about the latter. It was unlikely I could shoot my way out, not that I necessarily wanted to. She said Amelia was a synth. When I pressed her on it, she admitted there was a 70% chance she was a synth based on the test. Only an autopsy could be surer.</p><p>She said there is a secret war against the Institute, one she was determined to help win. They have abducted hundreds of people and are responsible for many other atrocities. I agreed that, if that were true, the Institute needed to be destroyed. No medical test short of an autopsy can tell the difference between a synth and a human. They are biological creations. However she has developed a psychological test that has shown a lot of success in finding synths living among us.</p><p>Right now there are four or five false positives per synth but she hopes to get that down to one or two. That shocked me. A 20-25% success rate? And how many synths are passing the test, unknown to them?</p><p>She offered a deal: if I walk away, claiming I never found Amelia, she will not only match the reward Dan was offering but Covenant will be happy to become a trade partner. In time, perhaps even part of the alliance of settlements I was building. As long, of course, as I let them continue their work.</p><p>Codsworth was horrified when I said yes. He talked about the innocent civilians. People always talk about the innocent civilians, and ignore the civilians killed or tortured when you do nothing. Don't get me wrong: I intend to follow their work and, if they don't improve their success rate, we will...renegotiate our deal. However it was obvious Institute was already taking strong measures against humans; we had to fight back.</p><p>I stayed for the autopsy and it confirmed that Amelia was, in fact, a synth. However the procedure was quite invasive. It's not something that could be used on a living subject. So they would have to keep improving the psychological test. Before I left, Dr. Chambers told me that an essential part of the test was ignorance of its true purpose. I could not tell anyone at all. I understood. With my permission, her technicians locked out Codsworth's memory of the last twenty-four hours. I've told him he had been injured by a raider bullet.</p><p>I headed back to Covenant to talk to them and to bed down for the night. Jacob said he was pleased by the arrangement. Everyone on the team had lost people to the Institute. One saw his entire family killed by a courser, some kind of hunter synth that recovers other synths. He was pleased to ally Covenant with Sanctuary. Unfortunately it became clear that Jacob wasn't interested in taking the initiative in the actual administration of building supply lines and trade routes. Maybe I could get Preston to do it, but I had my doubts. He was a soldier. He could command a squad, but not a town.</p><p><span class="u">November 2, 2287</span><br/>
I wasn't that far from Lexington so when I headed out this morning, I decided to recon the Corvega plant on my way. It didn't look good. There were a lot of raiders, and from what I could see their armor and weapons were much better than the ones I'd fought. My odds didn't look good so I backed off.</p><p>I headed through Lexington cautiously. I found my first ghoul, dead thankfully. It was horrible, like a burned human. I saw another one, less dead, and feeding on the bodies of several raiders. This one was huge, deformed. I debated but I knew I'd have to fight them sooner or later. I opened fire. Unfortunately there was a second one I hadn't seen. That one was badly hurt from the fight with the raiders so it went down, but the first one charge me. I pulled out the sort-of axe I had gotten off a raider, chopped off both its arms, and it kept biting at me! I finally killed it but it was sobering. A raging enemy in power armor I can handle; fucking zombies are a lot to adjust to.</p><p>The rest of the trip through the city was less eventful, but I was moving fairly quickly. There was obviously a lot to explore here, and I saw raiders a couple of times in the distance.</p><p>On my way back to Sanctuary I saw a pretty well kept diner with some people outside, a man and a woman. I advanced slowly but they called out they didn't want trouble. I wasn't sure I believed them but I kept my gun down and so did they. The man was a chem dealer. The son of the woman who owned the diner owed him money. He wanted it or he was going to take it.</p><p>On the one hand, I kind of saw his point: don't buy if you can't pay. On the other hand, scumbags like him prey on addicts, and that made me a little angry. But I wasn't going to get into a gunfight in the open. I said I go talk to the owner, figuring at least I'd have cover inside the diner.</p><p>The owner was a tough old broad who wasn't about to pay. I really didn't want to get involved but I was involved now. After a moment I took the pragmatic choice: a diner would make a better ally for Sanctuary than a chem dealer. He was taken by surprise and the battle was short. She had a decent selection of goods and would make a good trading partner.</p><p>Up the road I met another trader, a traveling one. She had heard the gunfire and was waiting it out. Her name was Trashcan Carla and she had some nice stuff, including a more sophisticated cargo bot than the one Sturges had cobbled together. I told her about Sanctuary and she was interested in a new settlement so we walked back together.</p><p>We talked as we walked. Carla was apparently a pretty avid hunter. She gave me some good tips about the mutant animals: kill points, butchering techniques and so on. I had done some hunting in my day but these animals weren't quite the same, so I appreciated the extra knowledge.</p><p>The settlers have done a lot of work to repair the bridge leading into town. Sturges has been tinkering with the salvage I brought back and was slowly restoring some basic technological amenities like more lights. What is most exciting is that he's got a design for a water purifier. He says he just needs a few more parts to finish it and gave me a list of salvage to keep an eye out for. That might make it worth finally salvaging the rest of Concord tomorrow.</p><p><span class="u">November 3, 2287</span><br/>
Preston had Sturges working on a radio to advertise to traders and potential settlers that we had a growing town here. I was a bit skeptical, but I’m not his commanding officer. Let them get their town up and running as they wanted. Sturges also helped me program the new cargo bot to runs supplies to Covenant and back. I escorted it on its first trip with a load of supplies.</p><p>Once I got everything squared away in Covenant I decided to recon the Corvega plant again. This time I felt a little better about it, I'm not sure why. On my way in I picked up a distress call from a military unit with a designation I didn't recognize. They were pinned down at the Cambridge Police Station and were requesting help. I debated. I had no idea who these people were or even if they were the “good guys”, but I also hated to leave a solider in distress. Looking at the map I saw they weren't too far away. The raiders could wait. I decided to check out Cambridge.</p><p>I spotted some ghouls but I saw no benefit to engaging them so I circled around. As I got closer to Cambridge, they became more common. Finally in College Square I saw what had been the site of a battle, but not the unit that had sent the message. Raiders had staged a last stand against the ghouls. The humans had mined fortifications but had been overwhelmed. Up ahead I heard more fire and it was coming from the direction of the police station. I moved forward, and hordes of ghouls swarmed out. I tried to engage them at range, but they were fast and kept coming even after limbs were blown off. It was grim.</p><p>They were like cockroaches: you stomp one, and a dozen more come out of the walls. But I kept thinking of the soldiers pinned down up ahead and I advanced as best I could.</p><p>The soldiers had barricaded themselves in the courtyard of the police station, though there was a visual breach in the outer barricade. A man on power armor held the steps while two others who looked like medics tried to back him up. I came in, helped take out the handful of ghouls, but before I could get my breath I heard the growling behind me. I turned and a horde of these things flooded past the barricade.</p><p>They were fast and brutal, like the others I'd fought, but there were dozens of them. I emptied my N99 pistol and then my laser pistol and then my pipe rifle. At the end, I was fighting with an axe, but we were left standing.</p><p>The man in power armor demanded to know why I was there. Between my adrenaline and the pain from my wounds I wasn't much in the mood for his shit, but eventually we both calmed down. He said their mission had been difficult, attacked at every turn, so he was suspicious of everyone.</p><p>He said he was Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel. He nodded to the other two: a medic named Haylen and a tech named Rhys. They were part of a recon team, but they were a man down and out of communication. They had been able to get the transmitter on the roof working but it didn't have the range they needed. Danse was planning a mission to Arcjet Technologies to recover their transmitter equipment. I obviously could handle myself so he asked if I would be willing to help.</p><p>I wanted to know more before committing. He said the Brotherhood is an organization dedicated to acquiring and controlling technology so it couldn't be abused like it had been in the past. That didn't tell me much, but honestly this felt like home. Soldiering was something I was good at. But that didn't mean I was willing to join up with any outfit like some kind of mercenary. I think he could see I was hesitating. He's invited me inside the station to rest and resupply.</p><p><span class="u">November 4, 2287</span><br/>
Danse told me a little about their mission. His team had been sent to recon the Commonwealth, though he wouldn't say from where. They secured the police station as a base of operations and started to recon the area. They had tried to hit the Corvega factory to secure technology but had been repelled; that didn't bode well for my chances at clearing the place. They were a team of seven, now down to three, and I suspect that is weighing on him. I've been there.</p><p>He mentioned Fort Strong was a super mutant stronghold, another site they had to retreat from. They have detected some high sporadic energy readings and Danse thinks they are important signs of technology but he has been unable to triangulate them.</p><p>I overheard Scribe Haylen recording a personal log. She had joined the Brotherhood because she believed in what they were doing, but their methods bothered her. Frankly it was a typical reaction civilians had to military operations. Life is not a movie with good guys and bad guys. It's ugly and brutal.</p><p>Rhys was falling apart. The stress was getting to him, and Danse wasn't doing his job and keeping him in line.</p><p>I asked Danse for his recon on the factory. He had some good info on the layout that would be useful whenever I decided to hit it. It seemed to me that a small, stealthy strike team might do better and he grudgingly agreed. Charging in with power armor is fine when you have the firepower, but he underestimated them. Someone going on alone might be able to do a lot of damage before the raiders even realized they were under attack.</p><p>I didn't tell Danse my whole story, but he figured out I was an ex-soldier right away. I told him that my first priority was to get the parts Sanctuary needed to build their water purification plant. That meant clean water for a lot of people and that was going to save lives. I admitted I had a grudge against the raiders in Corvega, and I briefly touched on Shaun's abduction but told him I didn't have any solid leads yet.</p><p>I asked how secure their position was. He said it would be a few days before the ghouls built up in numbers again, days they could use the fix the barricades. The reason the ghouls had attacked was that he had been out on a supply run. That meant they had food and water for a few weeks. They had also collected a lot of salvage and I found the parts I needed for the water purifier among it so we made a deal. I'd head back to Sanctuary, let them get started on the water plant, and then I'd come back here and we'd take Arcjet. It would give me a chance to see the doctor in Covenant -- in addition to my injuries, I was feeling sick after the ghoul attack -- and to build some more ammo back in Sanctuary.</p><p>I returned to Covenant to see the doctor. It was getting late but I was pretty energized by whatever she gave me so I went ahead and traveled back to Sanctuary. Another settler had joined and they were working on building some better houses to accommodate the growing population. Everyone was excited by the parts I brought, though it was too late to start on the purifier tonight. Still, it was just a matter of time now.</p><p>Mama Murphy gave me another vision tonight in return for some Med-X. She saw me wading into a sea, but not a sea of water. It was shining and burning. There were people calling, chanting, and they could help me but they were hard to read. She was really sick at the end of it. I think one more dose might kill her.</p><p><span class="u">November 5, 2287</span><br/>
Sanctuary looked to be developing. I swung by Abernathy Farm and they were fine as well. I headed back to Cambridge to help out Danse. On the way I was ambushed by some kind of giant lobster thing. It was way over my pay grade, and I thought I was done for. I woke up in Covenant with Dr. Patricia looking down on me. Codsworth had fought the thing off and dragged me to safety.</p><p>The doc got me healed up pretty quickly, though it wasn't cheap. However I finally had to admit to myself that I wasn't ready for Cambridge. I wanted to help Danse, but getting myself killed wasn't going to help. Preston had told me that things got worse as you go south but I figured Ms. Badass Ranger could handle it.</p><p>I needed to secure the northern areas first, and I needed to scrounge for more ammo and weapons. When I was better prepared I could head south. Danse said they could hold out for a few weeks. I hope he's right.</p><p>Rest for today. Think about next steps tomorrow.</p><p><span class="u">November 6, 2287</span><br/>
I headed into Lexington, hoping to take out the Corvega plant, or at least to do some better recon. Unfortunately the raiders were in the surrounding blocks as well. I did OK, took two of them out, but I hid from the others. At least one was in power armor and I wasn't ready to face that.</p><p>I continued to move quietly through the alleys. I looted a drugstore and there wasn't much left, though I found a little Rad-X that might be useful later. Eventually I found a sewer pipe that seemed to lead into the plant itself. At the entrance to the pipe was an odd symbol chalked to the wall. It was like a star with an X in the middle. It was obviously a marker, but left by who? I doubted the raiders had done it. Danse and his team hadn't been up here. Maybe traders, a warning to others.</p><p>The raiders weren't as stupid as I thought. This wasn't some secret path into the rear of their base. They had a turret and three guards. Luckily I had cover and I was able to take them all out. There was a terminal inside. The raiders were using this as an easy access into the city. They had cleared out most of the ghouls, unlike Cambridge, and were slowly securing parts of the city. The leader was apparently named Jared and was a chem addict. That could be good or bad depending on how bad his addiction was.</p><p>Inside I started to realize these guys weren't amateurs. Spotlights, alarms and more. I'd have to be very careful. I moved in slowly, drawing them into kill zones. I still got hurt but they got it worse, and Codsworth could be an effective distraction.</p><p>I found the leader in the main manufacturing chamber. There was a Protectron there I was able to activate and it drew fire and even killed one of them. I engaged the leader at range, emptied my pipe rifle into him but he had stimpaks so it was a slow battle. He was backed up by two turrets but they had poor range of fire so I was able to take them out from cover. Then it was a matter of the stealthy cat-and-mouse game in the maze of junk. The leader had set himself up in the control room, which had a retractable bridge, so I was able to take that for myself and fire down at most of the other raiders.</p><p>This all triggered more of my old combat memories, and the gun felt more natural in my hand. My soldier reflexes were slowly waking up.</p><p>I started sifting through all the junk and found a journal kept by the leader, Jared. He had known Mama Murphy! He had been trying to trigger the visions in himself by using chems but it wasn't working, so he was experimenting on others. He was the one who sent the raiders against Lexington, hoping to get her.</p><p>There were more raiders but there would always be more raiders. I had killed their leader and lieutenants. I hacked off the leader's head, put it on a piece of rebar sticking out of one of the walls, and pinned a note warning them that if the settlements were raided again, I would be back. I hoped at least one of them could read.</p><p>It was after dawn when I got out of the Corvega plant, so I guess right now it's technically the 7th. I'm pretty exhausted so I'm holed up in the drugstore I found. I'll get a couple of hours of sleep and then head out.</p><p>
  
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Taking Out The Trash</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u">November 7, 2287</span><br/>
I slept later than I had planned and didn't leave until late afternoon. I still had to get out of Lexington and that took some diversions through alleys, but I eventually got onto the main road.</p><p>On the way back I found a nervous woman selling a brahmin for only 100 caps. It was pretty obvious she had stolen it but it also obvious is wasn’t the brahmin from Abernathy. She was clearly struggling, like so many people in the Commonwealth. Desperate people do desperate things, and if I didn't buy it someone else would, so I did.</p><p>I made a point of mentioning that there was a new settlement at Sanctuary and they were open to hard workers. She looked embarrassed and asked what kind of work. I was confused but then I realized what an offer like that could mean to a woman traveling alone, even from another woman. I assured her just farming, scavenging, and work like that. She agreed to follow me back and check it out.</p><p>On the way back, I met my first super mutants. They were both better and worse than I had imagined. They were humanoid brutes, big and strong but kind of dumb, just like Preston had said. The woman handled herself decently and we were able to finish the two of them off.</p><p>It was full dark when we got back to Sanctuary and she was still pretty suspicious, but when she saw a community of people and an array of garden plots, she started to relax. She's agreed to stay.</p><p>Preston tried to talk to me but I'm slagged right now. He said it would wait for morning.</p><p><span class="u">November 8, 2287</span><br/>
Preston reported that another settler had shown up while I was gone, and that he (Preston, that is) was organizing a local militia.</p><p>The new militia has made some forays into Concord to salvage but said they were afraid to go into the sewers. I checked it out myself and it was a bunch of mole rats and one of those giant lobster things that are apparently called mirelurks. There was also the fairly fresh corpse of an addict, dead of an overdose I suspected. He had an nice little nest down there.</p><p><span class="u">November 9, 2287</span><br/>
I was on the radio this morning. Sort of. The DJ mentioned the rumor that someone had been seen wearing a Vault 111 suit. I had worn mine in the early days, though I switched to Brotherhood fatigues a few days ago. A number of people saw me. Unless, I wondered, it had been someone else. Could someone else have gotten out?</p><p>There were two odd things about the story though. One was that he said it wasn't the first time someone saw a person in a vault suit. He said it like it wasn't all that unusual, not like it happened once. The other was that he was really bothered by the Vault 111 part of it, and I couldn't understand why. Did people know about Vault 111? Did we have a reputation as a ghost vault? Or was it just that they knew of some other vault and were anxious about the possibility of a second one?</p><p>Nobody among the settlers had heard of a specific vault or met a vault dweller, as they called us, but people knew what one was and knew what a vault suit looked like.</p><p>Mama came looking for chems. I've been mulling that over, especially since reading Jared's notes. The last dose nearly killed her. The next dose probably will. I refused and she sighed heavily. She told me it's her decision. She's old and if she dies, then so be it. But the sight has been important to the group. It got them here.</p><p>It may be her choice to take the chems but it's my choice not to give them to her.</p><p>Codsworth gave me some insights into his combat programming. Although he wasn't a combat model, it should help me fighting robots from now on. I can anticipate some of their moves and maybe take less damage in the fight.</p><p>I decided to let Tenpines know they were safe and I headed out. Since I was traveling near the quarry I stopped in to see Sully. He hadn't found a sucker to go into the water. Especially now that Sanctuary was attracting so many settlers, I figured a quarry would make a good resource. I scoped the water, spotted the valves, took a Rad-X and dove in.</p><p>I moved quickly but still took a lot of rads. I popped a RadAway while Sully started the pump. He said the pressure was coming up and things looked good. Suddenly two mirelurks came roaring up out of the water. We fought them off without too much trouble, and that's more meat for me. Glad they didn't hit me when I was swimming around. Sully said it would take a few days to drain the quarry. He swore he'd make good on our deal to share the salvage; I wasn't sure I believed him but there wasn't much I could do about it.</p><p>Tenpines was happy to hear about that the raiders would be leaving them alone. They've agreed to join the network of Minuteman colonies. I had brought some basic equipment including a cargo bot to set up a supply line. They warned me that if I followed the railroad tracks south I'd reach Bedford Station, which was infested with ghouls. The ghouls tended to stay to themselves but savagely attacked anyone who came near.</p><p>They are happier about me spending the night this time, so that's something.</p><p><span class="u">November 10, 2287</span><br/>
I decided to investigate Bedford Station. It is important to have good intelligence. I heavy fog descended as I traveled down the tracks, and I figured that could help or hinder me depending on who was stealthier. It turned out to help me. As I arrived at the station I saw shadows in the mist moving with the slow shamble of ghouls. I picked off three without alerting the others, but there were quite a few more and this was burning through more ammo than I wanted to use. I pulled back and continued down the road. I'll neutralize the site later.</p><p>I got back to Sanctuary and told Preston of my success and he was quite pleased. He said it was time for me to know about the Quincy Massacre.</p><p>Quincy was where everyone but Preston was from. They had been attacked by a mercenary gang called the Gunners and had called on the Minutemen for Help. Preston was serving under Colonel Hollis then. Hollis's unit was the only one who responded; the other units turned their backs on them. Then Gunners overwhelmed them. Preston escaped with the few survivors; all the other Minutemen in his unit, including Colonel Hollis, had been killed. Since then they had faced one disaster after another.</p><p>I assumed the next part of the story was how he was going to rebuild the Minutemen now that they found a safe place, but he surprised me when he said I was the one to do that. He was a soldier. He could fight, he could command, but he didn't have the leadership to unite the Commonwealth and that's what was needed. The Minutemen fell apart because their leaders forgot about that. He thought I was the kind of leader the Minutemen and the Commonwealth needed.</p><p>I told him I was like him: a good sergeant. He disagreed. So much had been accomplished, not just in Sanctuary but now we were a network of three settlements, and he says that was because of me. But both he and Codsworth said I was what was needed, and finally I agreed just to shut them up.</p><p>I have my own problems. I don't mean that to sound selfish, but these are his people, not mine. I need to groom Preston to take over so I can decide what path my life takes.</p><p>Preston was overjoyed that I had agreed, and called me General. I told him not to call me that but he said the leader of the Minutemen was always called General. The last one, General Becker, died in 2282 and nobody could agree who would replace him, which probably contributed to the fall of the Minutemen.</p><p>We got word that settler at Oberland Station were having trouble with raiders. I looked at the location on my map and it was close to Cambridge. They were going to have to wait a bit.</p><p>I was on the radio again. The report was about the presence of the Brotherhood at Cambridge Police Station, which was probably a fact Danse hadn't wanted to get out. I wonder who told, but I guess someone might have picked up their distress call. However the news report was about how the Vault Dweller helped them repel an attack.</p><p>I've been teaching the settlers some of my gun smithing skills and they have improved the turrets we put up a couple of days ago.</p><p><span class="u">November 11, 2287</span><br/>
I was awakened by a rad storm. We huddled together in the root cellar until it passed, but it's getting crowded in there.</p><p>I'm really tired and I think I it's a side effect of the RadAway. I'm reluctant to make another trip to Covenant so I think I'll just suffer through for now.</p><p>I decided to explore the shipping depot near Abernathy, Wicked Shipping. They had warned me there were ghouls. Yes, of course there are ghouls. They're everywhere. Well I decided to check it out. If nothing else, it's close to the farm so I figured I should secure it for their safety. I took Preston, leaving Codsworth behind to work on rebuilding Sanctuary.</p><p>At the shipping yard I hacked a utility Protectron and let it roam the place, hoping to draw the ghouls out. Unfortunately it just puttered around the front chiding me about wearing a hard hat so wasn't any help. However the ghouls weren't too bad, and I was often able to shoot them from elevated positions so they couldn't get to me.</p><p>On the site's dispatch computer I found the locations of the old General Atomics factory and a containment building for Mass Fusion; the latter probably meant radioactive material. Neither were anywhere close, but they could be useful sources of salvage for the settlements. The computer also revealed the owners were in over their heads with some mobsters, but that wasn't relevant information anymore.</p><p>In the end there were only 4-5 ghouls and a fair amount of decent salvage. A road led out to the west and I decided to follow it. On the road I met a guy named Gene who was selling a dog. He said he would get a puppy, raise it, sell it and then do it again. He was able to make a decent living, though admitted it was hard to sell them because he got attached. That was clear in the price: 250 caps. Sorry, but a dog isn't worth that to me, at least not now. But I told him about Sanctuary and said maybe someone else would want one.</p><p>The road ended in nothing. I continued around the lake there because I saw some industrial buildings in the distance. I found an abandoned camp without much other than a safe I couldn't crack. I kept away from the shore because of the risk of mirelurks, even though I saw some salvage down there.</p><p>I met a traveling merchant named Fred O'Connell. He said he was out of supplies and was headed back to Vault 81 to resupply. I was shocked to hear of another vault. I asked him about it and he told me where it was. He said the didn't let people in so he didn't know anything about it, but the were willing to trade with outsiders. It's a bit further south than Oberland Station, and west of Diamond City. I asked him about the route and he admitted it could be treacherous, though not so bad if you avoided urban areas.</p><p>We were near the industrial buildings and he said that was Sunshine Tidings Co-op, a small agricultural community. It had been a settlement and he had intended to stop, but he saw there was nobody there. He didn't know what happened but wasn't about to risk his ass to find out. He just kept moving. I could respect that but I decided to investigate.</p><p>I approached from a ridge overlooking the place. I saw a Mr. Handy wandering around but nothing else. I moved in slowly. I approached the Mr. Handy and it continued to wander, muttering, "Groovy, man." It was obviously broken.</p><p>I found a terminal and discovered this was some kind of hippie commune dedicated to freeing robots from their "slave masters". I found the programming for the Mr. Handy and put it on guard duty. When I started to find the ghoul bodies I had an idea what happened to the hippies. Unfortunately the robot was less effective in combat than Codsworth and was destroyed.</p><p>It's a decent site but there is nobody left. I suppose as people start to flock to Sanctuary we could expand out here, especially if I start traveling further south. It could be good to have a beachhead here. Plus it's a safe place to camp for tonight.</p><p><span class="u">November 12, 2287</span><br/>
On my way back to Sanctuary I saw two super mutants. I also saw a building out by a pond. I saw large eggs by the pond; Preston  warned me they were mirelurk eggs so I stayed away. The building was a museum and gift shop. Apparently this was Walden Pond and the nearby small building was Thoreau's cabin. I thought it was abandoned until I found the traps. I also found a locked door and a note telling some guy named Tweez to use the entrance in the sewers.</p><p>While looking for the sewer entrance I saw a familiar face: Doc Anderson. I guess I never mentioned that I had seen her near Drumlin Diner. I was glad to see her and she confirmed that I had RadAway Sickness. She cured me of that and the usual rads and injuries in return for some trade goods.</p><p>Our infiltration of the sewers wasn't as smooth as I would have liked because Preston got in the way. He charged ahead, got in my line of fire, and generally showed the behavior of a militia. It made the operation messy, and I got wounded as a result. I didn't bawl him out. He didn't have the training. But, while it was nice having another gun, I had to remember he wasn't a professional soldier.</p><p>There were four raiders and we got them all. We cleared out their bolt hole and headed back to Sanctuary. On the way I saw a dog being mauled by mirelurks; I felt sorry for the guy but I wasn't going to engage. Similarly, I heard gunfire but it was in the wrong direction. Choose your battles.</p><p>Back at Sanctuary I found out that Diamond City Radio was talking about the new settlement in Sanctuary so we might see some more people coming in. It turns out one of the new settlers has been writing a newsletter and giving copies to Carla to spread. I'm not sure that's a good idea, but it's not my call. They may think I'm the leader, but I'm just humoring Preston.</p><p>They had also gotten word that a settlement called Greentop Nursery was having ghoul troubles and wanted some help. Preston mentioned there was another good settlement site at Starlight Drive-In, near Drumlin Diner. They had passed it on the way. It was empty of people but there was some vermin to clear out.</p><p>I'm getting too bogged down in this settlement shit. I need to get back to Cambridge to help Danse, and of course I need to get to Diamond City. Mama continues to sulk since nobody will give her chems. She has no money so can't buy them from Carla when she comes into town, and refuses to work so isn't about to earn any. Fine, I'm willing to feed her, but that's it. She's given me nothing.</p><p>Starlight isn't too far out of my way so maybe I'll clear it out, but I might not. It's not going to get me much. However I need to get to Lexington and try to clear that out on my way to Cambridge. Oberland Station is near Cambridge and might make a good jumping off point. And I think I might want to provide supplies to the Brotherhood. Plus I'd like to visit the vault nearby. But let's secure Lexington first, or at least weaken the raider hold on the area.</p><p>Sturges approached me again about getting into Vault 111. I told him I wasn't ready to deal with it yet and he accepted that, but I find myself wondering if those freezer units are still working. If the bodies start to thaw, it's going to get ugly. I suppose I'll give him the password tomorrow morning and have him check out the elevator. It's not like he can get past the vault door. You need a Pip-Boy for that. I'll also mention that the town should start surveying a good spot for a graveyard. Maybe even the top of that hill where the vault is. At least we can dig down without hitting the water table.</p><p><span class="u">November 13, 2287</span><br/>
The brahmin lady managed to acquire another one. She assured me this one was legally purchased.</p><p>Preston and I headed for Starlight Drive-In. It was a foggy but bright day when we started, but the mist cleared by the time we got to the drive in. The place was home to a nest of mole rats and a few radroaches, but nothing too bad. Some guy had secured the projection room, but from the age of the skeleton it might have been from before the war. He set a couple of mines that were still working and my demolitions knowledge grudgingly came to the surface so I could disarm them. We radioed back to Sanctuary and they said they'd send a couple of settlers over to secure the place. We stuck around to oversee the operation, and by the time they had set  up it was late so we stayed the night.</p><p>Preston told me that our settlements were going to start having trouble staying in contact with each other. He wanted to secure the old Minutemen headquarters at the Castle. He showed me on the map and it is very far south, deep into dangerous territory. I told him he was basically nuts. If he wants to make a suicide run, then fine, but I'm not going to join him and we aren't ready for an operation like that. He reluctantly backed down on the idea but I imagine I'll be hearing about that again.</p><p><span class="u">November 14, 2287</span><br/>
We decided to check out the northern part of Lexington. There was a Super Duper Mart there and I was afraid it had been picked over; instead I found it was full of ghouls. I backed off. Ghouls tend to stay where they are. I was more concerned with the raiders who would hit the new settlement.</p><p>Unfortunately, the ghouls were everywhere. We hit a nest and got swarmed. We got out in decent shape but my ammo is getting low.</p><p>The city seems to be a battle between the ghouls and the raiders. I cleared out some raiders, including the one I had spotted before in power armor. The frame was shot but...well the pieces were shot too, but at least I could transport those. Sturges can probably do something with them. I could see there were still a lot of raiders at the Corvega plant. I had made a dent but once they had a new leader, they would be a problem again.</p><p>For now, though, I checked out the Lexington Apartments. It was mined and trapped but I knew better than to charge in, though I had to warn Preston to stay back. It was home to two raiders, possibly a couple, but a grenade took care of them. It was getting late so I debated about bunking down there but Preston obviously was squeamish about it. Fine.</p><p>We continued to sweep, rooted out another small raider camp and then headed back to the drive in to get some sleep.</p><p><span class="u">November 15, 2287</span><br/>
I realize I haven't been badly hungry or thirsty for a while. Between my brain slowly coughing up the survival knowledge I used to have, and the settlements growing crops and trading, there is more food and water than before. I'm not living in luxury but I'm nt worrying (too much) about where my next meal is coming from.</p><p>I decided to make another run on the Corvega plant. I cleared the main plant, though there were still raiders on the outer catwalks. There was no cover out there and I wasn't going to get into a long-range gun battle when I was low on ammo. We again camped out in that drug store. It's actually a pretty secure location, and the locals know it's been cleared out so don't bother investigating it for salvage.</p><p><span class="u">November 16, 2287</span><br/>
I checked out a junkyard west of Corvega called Jalbert Disposal. Apparently some people had been living there, dead now though. They were dressed in rags but I realized the rags had some kind of symbol. An atom? They were all bald, which seemed a bit odd until Preston explained they were Children of Atom, a post-apocalypse cult that thought the atom bomb was God and radiation was His blessing. Anyhow they had been killed by the mole rats that infested the place.</p><p>I cleared out the rats, got a little salvage but there were a lot of leaking radioactive barrels so I didn't get to explore the whole place. I headed back to Sanctuary by way of Abernathy. I heard gunfire and investigated. I saw raiders had set up a sort of checkpoint on a road, not one I usually traveled. They were amusing themselves shooting at wild dogs. I gave them something more interesting to shoot at. With them gone, the road will be safer.</p><p><span class="u">November 17, 2287</span><br/>
I finally decided to take a little time off. All the wounds and illness have been catching up with me. And it will give Preston some time to focus on Sanctuary for a while.</p><p>Preston told me he joined up with Hollis's Minutemen group when he was 17. Hollis was one of the "good ones" as he put it, one of the ones who really believed it helping. He doesn't know why it fell apart, but admits he never paid attention to the politics between the different squads. General Becker kept things under control, and when he died it all came out and the Minutemen fell apart.  Preston still believes that the Minutemen can be the "good guys" again.</p><p>His naiveté is both adorable and worrying. Life isn't a movie. When you start believing you're the hero, you think some magical force will protect you and you get killed. Or worse, you get other people killed. Sometimes hard decisions have to be made, disturbing choices like at Covenant, and I don't think Preston was the one to make those decisions.</p><p>We started to dig a graveyard. Sturges is confident the elevator could be relied upon. It's time we cleared the vault, and the first thing meant getting the bodies out and buried. The first would be Nate. None of the others were really my friends. They were nice enough, good neighbors most of them, but nobody I was really attached to. I wanted to be there for Nate but I'd leave it to the rest of the town to clear out the others. Once that was done, only then would they clear the rest of the vault.</p><p>As for the vault staff, they could thrown their bones the garbage for all I cared. I certainly didn’t want them in the same cemetery as their victims. Put them in the composter and turn them into fertilizer so they can be useful for once.</p><p><span class="u">November 18, 2287</span><br/>
Sanctuary's local reporter has started to get more information on the locals in the area. Salvage comes in regularly from the Red Rocket station and from Concord. With more supplies, Codsworth has started repairing our house. I was torn when I realized that. My memories of the place were conflicted. But I decided it's as good a place as any for me to bunk down. I took down Shaun's crib myself. I had been wanting to leave it, but even if he was alive and still a baby, the crib was just a shattered mess of wood and cloth.</p><p>So far, my time off has been spent doing manual labor, but I suppose that's more relaxing that getting shot by raiders at or mauled by ferals.</p><p>Speaking of ferals, one of those fucking ghouls showed up in Sanctuary, one of the supposedly safe ones. I wanted to run it off but Preston greeted it warmly. I think he could see I was uncomfortable and he pulled me aside and said a lot of ghouls still retained their memories and were just regular people. I wasn't about to gun the thing down in front of him, but I told it to head to Abernathy and see if they wanted it. I'm not going to have that thing in town waiting to eat my brain or whatever they do.</p><p><span class="u">November 19, 2287</span><br/>
It's been two weeks since I promised Danse I'd be back. Unfortunately I'm still exhausted and sick, and I'm still running a fever. I hate to be a pussy about it but I think Danse will be fine for a few more days. I hope. Plus we buried Nate this morning and that affected me more than I thought.</p><p>I took a walk over to Abernathy Farm, partially to clear my head and partially to check up on them. The ghoul was there but I ignored it. They've hired another hand and expanded their field. They are also building a water purifier based on the design in Sanctuary.</p><p>I tinkered a bit, putting together some small explosive charges for breaching doors and a couple of auto-hackers that should let me get into more computers. I also played with recipes. I wasn't really much of a cook, but when you mix that mole rat meat into a stew with carrots and tatos it's a bit more palatable and filling.</p><p><span class="u">November 20, 2287</span><br/>
Dammit, tomorrow for sure. I keep spending my rest days doing manual labor, so I'm not recovering as fast as I should be. Today, bed rest. No arguments!</p><p>I've come up with a strategic plan. I'm still not that happy with just charging into Cambridge, but Oberland Station isn't far off. If I could help them with their raider problem and get them to join the Minutemen colonies, it could be a beachhead for me and a supply line for the Brotherhood if they turn out to be allies.</p><p>It's also not far from Vault 81 and Diamond City. I'm really curious about the vault, and of course Diamond City seems like my best bet to get a track on Shaun.</p><p>
  
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Reaching Diamond City</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><span class="u">November 21, 2287</span><br/>
I felt a lot better this morning. I was off before sunup, with the intent of making my way to Oberland Station.</p><p>I stopped to check out an abandoned house. There was a wild dog in there that attacked but I killed it before it got near. There were the bodies of a couple of raiders but they hadn't been killed by the dog. I finally realized they were its owners. What killed them was nearby: a giant white scorpion. It was dead, thankfully, probably killed by the dog. Preston said those are called radscorpions, though he admitted he had never seen a white one before.</p><p>I went to the rail crossing south of Drumlin and started to follow the tracks. There was a wrecked train there that I hadn't searched much. I looked more carefully and realized there is a suit of power armor there in pretty decent condition, but it's locked by a computer I can't hack. My auto-hackers probably could but I didn't want to take it back to Sanctuary yet. It had been safe for 200 years; it'll be safe for another couple of days.</p><p>I saw what looked like an old national park campsite. I approached and saw a large bear that Preston said was called a yao guai. I engaged from a distance but it was faster than I thought. I killed it but got hurt. I moved in and was surprised when I heard another. That one died more quickly. I swept the rest of the place more carefully. There were leaking radioactive barrels blocking me from one trailer but I doubted what was inside was worth the rads so I marked it and moved on.</p><p>Further down the track was an old farm called Graygarden, still operating and run by robots. I had heard rumors of this from some of the incoming settlers but nobody knew where it was. There were several worker drones and three supervisor units but no humans. I vaguely remember something about this. Dr. Edward Gray was one of RobCo's leading engineers, an eccentric genius.  The facility was still running but the food was pretty sparse. One of the supervisors said the quality of the water had decreased over the last two centuries. It all came from a water purification plant to the south. If I could clean it up, then this might be a good addition to the settlements.</p><p>This could also make a good doorway into Cambridge. However Oberland was closer to Diamond City, and that was still an important personal goal. Yes, I wanted to help the Brotherhood and the Minutemen, but I haven't forgotten about Shaun. I'll come back later but my immediate goal at the time was continue to Oberland.</p><p>Oberland was another small settlement: a couple of people growing crops. They were being harassed by raiders based in a clothing store in north Boston, right on the river walk along the Charles. That would put me very close to Diamond City, so I felt I made the right choice.</p><p>I headed cross country rather than following the tracks to the road. Not only was it shorter, but roads can be more dangerous than wilderness. Eventually I got close to the northern edge of the city and my point was proven as I saw some ghouls. A heavy fog had rolled in so they were easy to avoid.</p><p>I heard gunshots from deeper in the city, including the growl of a minigun. As usual, not my problem. I continue to move along the perimeter, following the river. Nothing was going to come at me over the water so that was one less direction I had to watch.</p><p>The raiders were decently dug in: two guards, two turrets and a trap that would have fired a rocket launcher. And that was just the outside. Inside more traps, more raiders, but I was able to clear the place without much trouble. I'm getting pretty good at scavenging ammo and supplies. I've reset the traps and am going to stay here tonight.</p><p><span class="u">November 22, 2287</span><br/>
The store was close to Diamond City so I figured I'd make a try for it. The traders I had talked to said the secret was to go down the main street, but to watch for super mutants and raiders. Don't go down alleys; they were more dangerous. I followed that advice and soon I started to see guards and turrets and fortifications, along with signs inviting traders in. I found the source of the gunfire I had heard previously; a squad of super mutants had made a run on the Wall, as they called it, and the guards had cut them down. It actually was probably the turrets rather than a minigun I had heard. The fact the guards were competent made me feel a bit better. They watched me carefully but waved me along.</p><p>In the courtyard outside the town was a traveling trader named Cricket. She was a weapons dealer, pretty crazy like all the weapons dealers I'd met in the old days. She had a good supply of stuff but her prices weren't cheap. I was able to unload some of the raider gear on her though.</p><p>At the main gate I found a woman arguing into an intercom, demanding to be let in. At first I was worried that the city didn’t like letting strangers in, but then I realized this was personal. She had apparently been banished from the city. What I picked up was that she was a reporter, wrote a scaremongering article, and the mayor kicked her out. She was growing increasingly frustrated with the guard but then she saw me. She quickly fabricated a story that I was a trader here with supplies. Before I could object, she had talked the guard into opening the gate.</p><p>I mean she was lying, but it was also true. Since Diamond City seemed to be the big player around here, setting up trade would help the Minutemen settlements. The gate opened and I figured I'd just slip in, but a man in a suit came hustling up. He started bawling her out and I realized this was the mayor who had booted her out. He said her paper was stirring up trouble, she fell back on the old "freedom of the press" all the yellow journalists do. I tried to slip past but she zeroed in on me and asked my opinion.</p><p>I didn't appreciate being dragged into her personal battle but I also didn't see a reason to take sides in an argument I knew nothing about. The mayor quickly turned on the charm when he saw I was a newcomer, while the woman turned hostile after I didn't immediately give full support to her pet cause. I was quickly disliking her. They mayor cheerfully asked why I had come to their fair city. I didn't see any reason to go into details but I said I was looking for a missing person.</p><p>The term "pregnant pause" comes to mind. I felt like I was patrolling No Man's Land and suddenly realized I was in the middle of a minefield.</p><p>Piper (the reporter) launched a nasty insult towards Diamond City security. The mayor was suddenly very nervous and said security can't look into every case, but assured me I'd find help somewhere. I pressed him and he grudgingly admitted there was a private detective named Nick Valentine in town. Piper started to hammer him with questions about why security never looked into missing persons and he hurried off. I would think a reporter would have a better personality.</p><p>Piper was impressed I was able to get the mayor to tell me about the detective. She said I should drop by her office for an interview. I'm not interested in being interviewed, but I would like to know more about her comments about missing persons.</p><p>I headed inside. The newspaper office was right by the main thoroughfare so I saw Piper go up to a little girl of about 12 who was hawking papers. I heard them talk a bit and figured out the girl, Nat, was Piper's sister and was obviously the adult of the pair. That was sad. "Mature for your age" is a polite way of saying "neglected". Piper headed in and out of curiosity I picked up a copy of the paper. I asked Nat about missing people and she said it was a regular thing in Diamond City. Sometimes it was drifters so that didn't seem too suspicious but she said it was sometimes normal residents or the rich folks in the upper seats.</p><p>The thing is, sometimes people leave. I later talked to a woman who ran a clothing store. Her husband had been “taken by the Institute”. And yet as we talked, it became clear they had been having marital troubles. Maybe he just walked away. People leave and the ones left behind don’t want to admit it might have been their fault, so they blame the bogeyman.</p><p>I read the paper and, to be fair, it was a decent little publication. The feature article was about an incident that occurred in the city 60 years ago. Piper had interviewed an old woman who had witnessed the event. A man named Carter had arrived in town: handsome, friendly, cheerful. People gathered at a bar there and he regaled them with stories from outside the Wall. The hung on his every word, since most of them never left the safety of Diamond City.</p><p>Then suddenly he stopped. His smile fled. His cheek started twitching. He calmly reached inside his jacket, pulled out a gun, and started killing people. People fought, people fled, the guards swarmed in. Eventually, they took him down and everyone assumed they had killed some crazy man. And then they saw the plastic and the metal under the skin.</p><p>The Institute was a bogeyman even back then. They produced android soldiers and people had seen those, but they were obviously robots. This man appeared completely human on the outside. Only inside could you see the mechanical parts. His generation of androids were eventually dubbed synths, and from what I heard at Covenant the modern ones were flesh and bone under the skin as well.</p><p>It has become known as the Night of the Broken Mask, and it fundamentally changed society in the Commonwealth. Paranoia spread, and suddenly every stranger might be a synth. Nobody knew why Carter killed people. Maybe he was under orders from the Institute to test his combat effectiveness. Maybe he just malfunctioned. But if a synth could go crazy, just like a ghoul could go feral, then we could never trust them.</p><p>Speaking of ghouls, the paper also mentioned that Mayor McDonough is anti-ghoul and had driven them out of the city. I was starting to like this guy.</p><p>I mulled over the article. I thought about Dr. Chambers. She was in her late 60s. I wonder if she could have been there that night. That would explain her hatred of synths.</p><p>I was right, incidentally. It's Fenway Park. They just walled the place off. The guard uniforms are umpire pads and batters' helmets. There's a guy who sells "swatters" (bats) as weapons and was happy to tell me how the players used those to kill each other in the brutal sport that used to be played here. I saw no reason to argue with him; to be fair, it's possible that after the war this had been a death arena for a while. He knew of some classic baseball memorabilia in an estate to the south and offered me some caps to get it. It's hardly a priority but if I'm in the area I'll check it out.</p><p>Walking through town, synths were on everyone's mind. I heard a lot of conversations about who in town was a synth. One of the vendors refused to serve synths but grudgingly decided I probably wasn't one. The vendors here have more caps that I had trade goods, at least right now. I have more back in Sanctuary but it was kind of a shock. A good shock, though. I was used to the traveling traders like Trashcan Carla who depend more on barter than on cash business.</p><p>I went to see Valentine and in front of his office was a neon sign with a heart. I think Mama Murphy said something about a shining heart in the darkness. Yeah, if I look back in these journals, "I should follow the hearts that shines brightly in the dark alleys of the city, follow the clues would to lead me to Shaun." Possibly a coincidence, and I would have found him either way.</p><p>Unfortunately, the detective was out. His secretary said he was out looking for a missing person. She seemed worried and I pressed her. She said Nick had been on the trail of some gangster named Skinny Malone, who was from a town called Goodneighbor to the northeast. Goodneighbor wasn't like Diamond City. It was a town where, as she put it, "people care about style and body count". It wasn't unusual for Nick to be gone for a while when on a case and she was sure he would be back. Her voice didn't agree with the certainty of her words. She said to check back in a few days.</p><p>In the evening, McDonough gave a speech trying to raise the morale of the people after Piper's article. I agreed with his actions. Her article was nothing but supposition and ghost stories. She had even hinted that McDonough was a synth without providing any actual evidence.</p><p>It was too late to head back to Oberland so I started looking for a place to crash. The Dugout Inn had rooms so I headed there. In the bar I met a guy named Hawthorne, an adventurer type. He seemed like the real deal and was happy to tell stories. I marked a couple of interesting places on my map, more of those "if I’m in the neighborhood" things.</p><p>The room isn't bad. The owners, two brothers, seem decent enough. I feel reasonably confident nobody is going to try to rob or rape me, so that's a plus.</p><p><span class="u">November 23, 2287</span><br/>
My morning started off with drama. I headed out to the marketplace to look at the vendors again but there was a fight. One man was screaming at another, accusing him of being a synth and demanding to know where his real brother was. The other man kept insisting he <span class="u">was</span> the guy's brother. Finally, the screamer pulled a gun and the guards shot him down.</p><p>This was the world Piper was creating. I wanted to drag her out here and force her to look at the man she’d killed with her yellow journalism, but she’d just scream “freedom of the press” and not care.</p><p>The main reason I wanted to stay today was the town had a doctor, but he had been closed by the time I arrived. It turns out the town had two doctors. Dr. Sun was the medical doctor, grouchy but efficient enough. I had him treat some of my injuries and radiation. I was surprised when he asked about chems. I admitted I took some Buffout a few days ago, a cure for the fatigue I picked up from radiation treatment. Ironically, I got it again for the same reason later but I've been just dealing with it. He grimaced and said that kind of cure had side effect and that I was already showing signs of pre-addiction just from that one dose. He offered to clean up both the pre-addiction and the illness but I decided to pass on both.</p><p>The other doctor, Doc Crocker, was a reconstructive surgeon. It wasn't something that particularly interested me but it said something about how far they had advanced. There is also a barber, a school, a science center and more.</p><p>I tried to talk to security and the mayor and both blew me off. That's one thing Piper was right about. I asked around in the market, and people always got very scared when I brought up missing persons. Nobody knew anything or wanted to talk about it.</p><p>The one thing I did find out from the mayor's secretary as she was stalling me is there was space available for purchase. It wasn't that expensive -- only 950 caps for the property rights -- but it was undeveloped and one condition of the purchase was the owner had to make it habitable. The settlements might be interested in that. A trade center in the heart of Diamond City could be a big boost. Preston liked the idea of establishing a Minuteman presence here, though I doubted the mayor would be happy about an independent militia in his city.</p><p>I really didn't care about this now. Preston kept acting like I was in charge, and I was happy to help, but my long term plans didn't involve being his General. I'm trying to position him to take over, but I was starting to realize he's right: he's not a general. He's a field officer, yes, but he doesn't get the administration and politics of being in charge. I don't really get that either so I don’t want the position. I wondered if Danse might be interested in putting the militia under Brotherhood control.</p><p>Before I left town, I stopped by Piper's office. I hoped to question her while she was questioning me. When I came in, she greeted me and called me Blue. I asked why and she said because I was obviously a vault dweller.</p><p>I'm sure I did my best deer in the headlights impression. I was in Brotherhood fatigues and raider armor. How the hell did she figure that out? She said, with her usual condescension, that the Pip-Boy and the "fish out of water" look were dead giveaways.</p><p>I still agreed to the interview. I tried to evade her questions but she was persistent. She had an amazing ability to zero in on the one important detail and hammer away at it until she got an answer. I don't like her as a person, but I have to grudgingly admit she's good at getting information. She'd have made a hell of an interrogator.</p><p>Once we got onto Shaun's abduction, I finally got my chance to push her about the kidnappings. It was common. People just disappeared, not just in Diamond City but all over the Commonwealth. And people shrugged and moved on with their lives because they couldn't do anything about it. She had been investigating and so had Valentine. Some of them were what I thought: runaways, deadbeat husbands, people who overdosed on chems in a dark alley. But there were a significant number of cases where people really did just disappear with no trace and no motive.</p><p>Here's the crazy part: she wants to come with me. She wants to leave her 12-year-old sister, follow around some stranger, and get shot at, just to get a story. Who does that? Honestly I think she's an adrenaline junkie. I've served with people like that. They get killed. Or they get other people killed. I said no.</p><p>With my business in Diamond City done, I returned to Oberland Station. After the news about the raiders they agreed to join the Minutemen settlements. I've learned to carry the equipment to get the supply lines and defenses set up quickly. With that done, I headed to Cambridge to meet with Danse.</p><p>I had been a little worried about them but the station is secure, more secure than before, and they are...not exactly "doing well", but persevering. This mission to get the transmitter would let them contact their HQ and arrange for an evac. Danse and I will head out tomorrow.</p><p><span class="u">November 24, 2287</span><br/>
We headed for Arcjet right after chow. Danse took point. He was typical of power armor cowboys: charging along because he thinks he's invincible. I told him to slow down and he seemed annoyed but tried to keep his pace down. Honestly, it was like walking with an excitable dog that keeps running ahead and then looking back until you catch up.</p><p>We took a convoluted route outside the city to avoid the ferals. He talked a bit about the mission. He told me about the transmissions; I already had seen the reports on the station computer but I let him talk. His concern is that the transmissions were very high frequency, something that couldn't be obtained with the kind of technology in the Commonwealth. It was imperative that the Brotherhood find the source and determine if it was dangerous.</p><p>They were the third team sent to the Commonwealth. The first brought back crates of pre-war artifacts, but the second lost contact shortly after they arrived and hadn't been heard from since. Danse's team, well, I knew what had happened to them but he wasn't going to give up. This area was too important and he was not going to simply withdraw and make his way back home.</p><p>The road wasn't without its hazards. We came across barricades where scavengers died fighting ghouls; a mine nearly took my leg off because a ghoul was lying on it so I didn't see it. Later we interrupted raiders going through the remains of the caravan they had slaughtered. We wiped them out. Then as we arrived at Arcjet, and Danse was telling me there would be no external security, we spotted a patrol of three super mutants, engaged and destroyed them.</p><p>Danse had poor situational awareness, a known problem with power armor and one reason I don't care for it. He learned I had a good eye though, and started to listen to me as I'd call out targets.</p><p>We headed into Arcjet. We expected internal defenses and we were right, but they had been destroyed. Recently. Danse picked up on a detail I didn't: no blood and no ammo casings. That meant Institute synths.</p><p>I insisted he stop while I looked at the terminals. The facility was testing a rocket engine. I knew Arcjet was something about technology but I couldn't remember what. The logs said there would be turrets near the engine and they wouldn't shoot at anyone wearing an employee ID badge. I wasn't sure we'd still find one but I kept an eye out.</p><p>We reached a security room and a locked door. The computer that controlled the door was password protected but had a password reset feature that immediately issued new credentials. I opened the door, and a horde of synths swarmed out. I would later find out these were the Gen 1 models. They looked obviously mechanical, but were more skillfully built than the clumsy Mr. Gutsy or Sentry Bots.</p><p>Danse got his blood up and charged in even though I warned him back. That was the rest of the mission: Danse roaring and surging ahead, thinking his armor would magically protect him. It was all I could do to keep up and avoid getting killed.</p><p>We finally reached another dead end in the engine testing room. We needed to go up to the roof but power to the elevator was off. Danse said he'd hold the chamber while I scouted the control room and looked for a way to restore power. I was able to do so, but I saw another horde of Gen 1s swarm the control room. Danse shouted for me to activate the engine. He said his armor would protect him. There were way too many for the three of us to fight so with some reluctance I hit the button.</p><p>The computer started the countdown. In a moment of insight I realized I had forgotten something, and I quickly hit the button to close the blast door. The engine roared to life, the synths died and Danse went down. I might not like Danse’s tactics, but I respect anyone willing to call an artillery strike down on his own position.</p><p>When the test fire stopped I rushed into the blast chamber. Danse was hurt but alive. Stimpaks in his armor were already repairing the damage. With power restored, we were able to take the elevator to the top level and the main control center.</p><p>There were more synths. It was a tactical mess though. We had only one corridor, one doorway for cover, and Danse and Preston kept getting in my way. I finally managed to lob a Molotov over their heads and that cleared out most of the synths. We were able to destroy the last one more easily.</p><p>My left arm was a mess. I splinted it as best I could as the other two searched the control room. The found the transmitter circuitry they needed and we exited via the service elevator. Outside Danse thanked me for my efforts and gave me his weapon, a customized Brotherhood laser rifle, as a reward. He said he would make do with the synth weapons until he got back to the police station.</p><p>He asked me to join the Brotherhood and I said yes. Preston was annoyed by that, but he still doesn't understand. He's playing at war. Local militias are important and I don't want to trivialize his contribution, but this area needed a true military organization to secure it.  And if the Institute was real, we certainly were going to need more than farm boys with laser muskets to defeat them. Danse made him the same offer, but Preston refused, somewhat rudely I thought.</p><p>Rather than follow Danse back to Cambridge, I headed to Oberland. I wanted to drop off my salvage but I also wanted to set up supply runs to Cambridge to help the Brotherhood while they got their transmitter up.</p><p><span class="u">November 25, 2287</span><br/>
I was exhausted last night and slept late into the morning. My arm hurt bad and I saw I was getting an infection. I knew how to brew up antibiotics so I've started a course.</p><p>I wanted to finish clearing Arcjet before scavengers took the place. As I neared the facility I heard gunshots down the road but I also saw a rad storm blowing so decided to ignore it. I got in and under cover, and by the time we’d gathered up the salvage the storm had passed.</p><p>Preston and I took our haul back to Oberland Station, knowing the cargo bot runs would eventually bring it to Sanctuary. On the way we came across a couple standing over a man's body. They didn't seem hostile as I approached. They explained they had been traveling with this man for a while and today he told them he was a synth. So they killed him. Good job, I say. I examined him and it's genuinely terrifying how I could not tell whether he was human or synth.</p><p>Next I accompanied the first shipment of supplies to Cambridge so that I could rendezvous with Danse. I cleared raiders who were holding a bridge behind the brewery. There are probably more of them inside the brewery but I'll deal with them later.</p><p>At the station, Danse announced that I had joined up with them. Haylen was pleased; Rhys of course made a snarky comment. This time, Danse berated him. A couple of days ago I lectured him about the loose discipline of his unit and he was offended, but later we talked again and he grudgingly admitted I was right. I was glad to see he was tightening things up.</p><p>He announced I would be given the rank of Initiate. It was the only field rank he was permitted to give. He told me to report to Haylen and Rhys for assignments. I guess as the newest recruit, I was bottom of the ladder.</p><p>Haylen apologized for Rhys. I think everyone needs to stop apologizing for him, but I kind of wonder if she's sweet on him. When I hinted at that she got very cold. Haylen was a scribe, basically a researcher and a technician. One of the Brotherhood's duties was to recover pre-war artifacts. They had evidence that there was one in the brewery I mentioned above and she tasked me with retrieving it.</p><p>Rhys didn't believe I was ex-military, but to him "military" means "Brotherhood". I gave him a little bit of my past, though not how old it was, and he thawed a bit. A soldier can tell another soldier, as opposed to those guy who've just seen to many movies. Well, I guess nowadays that would be "heard too many stories around the campfire". He gave me just a sliver of respect as he gave me my first assignment: clear the rest of the ghouls out of College Square.</p><p>Neither of these missions were considered urgent. I had already discussed supplying them from the Minutemen network of settlements and Danse agreed that was an important mission too. He gave me discretion as to how I wanted to complete my missions, and I appreciated that level of trust.</p><p>My ammo is a little low. Ghouls will just chew that up, but raiders at least give me some back. Beantown Brewery is close so I suppose I'll hit them tomorrow.</p><p><span class="u">November 26, 2287</span><br/>
The raiders at the brewery weren't fortified all that well -- no turrets only a couple of traps -- and there were only 5-6 of them so it wasn't hard. I found Haylen's tech but I found more. Apparently the leader here, a guy named Tower Tom, knew of other groups. There were other raiders at BADTFL (Sparta) and Federal Stockpile (Lily and Red). Apparently they raided Federal Stockpile and managed to accidentally kidnap Lily. They demanded food as ransom but then she got loose and then got dead, so he was writing letters to Red claiming to be Lily. I tend to doubt that went well, but I guess he'll never find out now.</p><p>I returned the tech to Haylen and her next mission was in the Super Duper Mart in Lexington. Crap, more ghouls. Again, she said it wasn't urgent so I thought I'd put it off for a little bit.</p><p>Danse was impressed I was able to complete my first mission so quickly and he said he might have another one. Three years ago the second Brotherhood recon team was inserted near Malden Center. They immediately went out of contact. He asks me to investigate the area. I should be able to pick up their distress pulsers and locate their position. Malden Center is near Greentop Nursery, one of the settlements calling on the Minutemen. Except of course their problem is ghouls and I am so sick of ghouls.</p><p>Funny that I say that though because on the way back I checked out a house and found three ferals feeding on the two humans who had been living there. They spotted me so I destroyed them, but have I mentioned I'm sick of ghouls?</p><p>More settlers had arrived at Sanctuary and Abernathy when I got back, attracted not just by the settlements but by word we were working with the Brotherhood. There is a lot of anti-synth sentiment in the Commonwealth. One of the settlers had also been working with Dogmeat to make him a more effective guard dog.</p><p>A trader named Crazy Eddie is staying in town and wanted to talk to me but</p><p>---</p><p>I got interrupted there. I was in bed and heard gunfire and then the turrets opened up. I grabbed my gun and rushed out to help fend off a feral ghoul attack. There were eight of them. We cut them down pretty easily, but I want to know where they came from. FUCK I'M SICK OF GHOULS</p><p>So I guess I was saying Crazy Eddie wants to talk but I'm too tired so I blew him off.</p><p><span class="u">November 27, 2287</span><br/>
Sturges presented me with a cargo bot that can follow me around, letting me unload salvage to carry back to the nearest settlement. That made sense. The settlers were doing a good job of recovering nearby salvage but I tended to head into dangerous areas, and being able to clean out a place like the Corvega factory would be useful.</p><p>Crazy Eddie cornered me this morning and I finally agreed to sit down with him. He wants to set up regular caravan runs and even some store fronts in town. Unfortunately everyone still looks to me as a leader. I've given up on getting Preston to handle the administrative details so, until I find someone better, I'm doing it. Eddie and I worked out a deal that I hoped wasn't too unfair to us. He was a fast talker and, though I've learned a lot about negotiating in the last couple of weeks, he obviously was better at it. However this would mean a steady supply of caps for the town and that would be good.</p><p>Eddie had a few decent goods, and a custom laser musket caught Preston's eye. Eddie also know of people who collected dog tags. I had a few that I had been saving for the metal and he took those off my hands.</p><p>He talked about setting up a couple of store fronts: a bar and a general store. Those would be a good start, he said.</p><p>I took it easy today. I scouted the surrounding area looking for a feral nest but didn't find it. Back in Sanctuary I tweaked my guns a bit, used a little of my precious ammo to shoot at targets, fiddled with a few locks since picking locks was becoming a common activity, and read up on a book of herbal remedies.</p><p><span class="u">November 28, 2287</span><br/>
Another rest day. I'm taking too many of those, but the "one woman army" thing is taking its toll. More traders are coming through even than yesterday. Plus new settlers are showing up at Abernathy and not just Sanctuary.</p><p><span class="u">November 29, 2287</span><br/>
I decided this morning that it was time to clear out Super Duper Mart, the last danger zone in Lexington and the location of the tech that Haylen wants. I stopped at Starlight and saw they've set up a general store there.</p><p>I arrived at the Super Duper Mart but rather than going in by the front door, we went in via the loading dock. We found a Minuteman there, dead of course. Preston said this is where he lost several of his people. We also found another one of those star symbols here. I assumed that meant this was a dangerous place, which was not news to me.</p><p>Sweeping the place was tricky. A ghoul collapsed on the ground could be dead or just napping. We found more Minutemen inside, and I made a point of recording their names: Emma, Josh, Anthony. It would not be hard to send a team to recover the bodies and carry them back to Sanctuary for burial.</p><p>I met Doc Anderson on the road back, which was good because I had taken some damage and rads from fighting the ghouls. She fixed me up and I continued on.</p><p>
  
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As mentioned at the start, this fic is abandoned and is very, very unlikely to be revived. I thought I'd share my reasons why.</p><p>First, I'm aware that the following is a little whiny and entitled. Second, I used to be a prolific modder for a different game and I understand the challenges of modding. Despite my complaints, I have great respect for what zawinul has done with Horizon.</p><p>I loved Horizon in its early days. I loved what he set out to do: create more balanced and realistic mechanics for Fallout 4. I loved what he did with combat, hunger, radiation, wounds, perks and so much more. In particular, he made settlement management interesting and fun.</p><p>Unfortunately, Horizon is collapsing under feature creep, and is turning into bloated vaporware.</p><p>I started this game last year. I quit for a couple of months and, when I came back, I saw that v1.8 had just been posted. I figured I'd start a new game when a stable version was released. How long could that take? A couple of weeks?</p><p>Here we are over nine months later, and still no stable 1.8. In fact he's given up on 1.8 and gone right to 1.9, but we don't have that either because he keeps finding more things to add.</p><p>What's frustrating is I don't care about the bulk of features he's adding. I just want to play the core game with good survival mechanics. I don't want to turn the Commonwealth into an industrial metropolis, and I really don't care about cosmetic additions. However, because it's one big mod, in order to play my survival game I have to wait while he adds endgame factory mechanics, new weapon textures, and hats for supermutants.</p><p>If I'd known it was going to take this long, I would have gone back to my v1.7.6 game back in December. As it is, the delay has stretched out long enough that I've lost interest in this project, and in Horizon in general. My current Avernus fic will take a good two years to finish, and I won't be back at least until that's done.</p><p>I want emphasize that I think zawinul is a good modder, but I'm no longer interested in future Horizon development.</p><p>There is a small possibility that, after my Avernus fic is done, I will revive my v1.7.6 game and resume this story, but that's not as easy as it sounds. One of the difficulties with the mod is that the in-game documentation is limited, and the out-of-game documentation can be confusing because he keeps changing underlying systems. I see a piece of advice and I don't know if it applies to the version I'm playing or some version before or after.</p><p>Okay, end of whining. Thanks to everyone who read this fic.</p>
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